Pete Fountain, RIP

[jeffcrom]

I'm surprised that nobody has posted about this yet, so I will.

New Orleans clarinetist Pete Fountain died this morning at the age of 86.

Here are my brief thoughts about the man.

When I was a young man, I had Pete Fountain pegged - he was a lightweight pop-Dixieland entertainer. Like most of my shallow generalizations about musicians, this turned out to be not entirely true. In the early 1990s I picked up a G.H.B. LP called Dixieland Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, because one side was by trumpeter Lee Collins with a New Orleans band, and I was trying to assemble a complete collection of Lee Collins' recordings. Collins is indeed excellent on this album, as are most of the other musicians. But the other side of the record was by trombonist Jack Delaney, and Pete Fountain's playing on these 1955 tracks absolutely floored me. His clarinet lines were creative and fluid, and his beautiful sound rivaled that of Irving Fazola. By a couple of years later, I realized that Fountain was an important link in the white New Orleans clarinet stylistic lineage that led from Leon Roppolo to Irving Fazola to Fountain, and now to Pete's one-time protege Tim Laughlin. I found that there are plenty of excellent, purely jazz (if that matters) performances by Pete Fountain on record. As for the rest of his legacy, well, so what if he was a popularizer, not a "pure" artist. I don 't begrudge him his nice cars and big house.

I saw Fountain perform twice in his later years. The more memorable of the two occasions, for mixed reasons, was the night after I heard Tim Laughlin play at Fritzel's in the French Quarter. He announced that he would be playing with Pete at a casino in Gulfport, Mississippi the next night. So the next evening I drove over - and it was a weird experience. The "theater" was in the middle of the casino, and was open - not separated from the rest of the room by walls. So the music I heard that night was accompanied by the sound of the slot machines, and even more distressingly, by the canned music from the casino, which nobody bothered to turn off. It didn't seem to matter to the band of mostly New Orleans veterans, who played very well. Fountain had little finger facility left, but he still had his sound, and Laughlin was there to cover up any deficiencies his mentor might show. Fountain retired from playing shortly after that.

RIP, Pierre Dewey LaFontaine Jr.

Edited August 6, 2016 by jeffcrom

[BillF]

BBC News gave him quite a big coverage today.

[duaneiac]

I first heard this news on on NPR newscast earlier this morning.  Not that many jazz musicians get mentioned in the news upon their passing, not even on NPR,which has done more than its share in covering jazz over the years.

People may tend to overlook Pete Fountain because of his popularity and they may hold his stint with Lawrence Welk against him, not to mention that his style of music is nowhere near as popular as it was 50-60 years ago.  Clearly the man had real musical talent  and it would be a mistake to dismiss his music entirely.

May he Rest In Peace (after he goes Marchin' In  "Half Fast" with the Saints)

[BillF]

In today's Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/06/pete-fountain-dead-new-orleans-jazz-clarinet

[Cyril]

Rest in Peace,  Pete Fountain ! 

[GA Russell]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/06/clarinetist-pete-fountain-dies.html

RIP, Pete!  In 1964 he autographed my copy of his album New Orleans at Midnight.  I also got to see his Half Fast Walking Club down Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras once.

Edited August 6, 2016 by GA Russell

[Hardbopjazz]

R.I.P. Peter.  

[Big Beat Steve]

I am not that big a fan of "revival" oldtime jazz that started in the late 40s and only pick up the occasional records of that style of jazz here and there when I feel like it, and though Pete Fountain was a familiar name from my early collecting days in the mid-70s I never sought out his records actively (probably due to reasons a bit like those mentioned by Jeffcrom). Then a couple of years ago I found clean original pressings of "Pete Fountain on Tour" and "Pete Fountain Day" on U.S. (purple) Coral at a giveaway price at a local record store clearout sale (at a price at which you just cannot go wrong, particularly if it is original 50s pressings). And I must say I was very pleasantly surprised. There was much more to him than to those of the actual "recreationist" faction and to me he was one fo those who proved that you can indeed say something new in a style that at first sight has had its heyday long before. This has led me to reading up on him here and there to find out more about the appraisal of his music, and last year I picked up a reissue CD of his 1956 "High Society" sessions at another clearout sale. Nice too (though I like "Pete Fountain Day" better.

R.I.P.

Edited August 7, 2016 by Big Beat Steve

[gmonahan]

I have (and like) the 2-cd compilation on Decca Jazz that Orrin Keepnews did of his late 50s Coral albums. He kept jazz alive in New Orleans when about the only other place to hear it was Preservation Hall. RIP.

 

gregmo

[flat5]

He was my hero when I was 13 and studying jazz clarinet. By 14 I had most of his Coral records. I had a paper route.

I've never lost my love of his jazz playing and consider 'Pete Fountain Day' a great jazz album. For him, Jack Sperling, and the others.

I never saw/heard him live.

BTW, there is much more music from that concert. I think Coral does not have the rights to it. It was on a university campus. Maybe someday it will be released.