Pete Fountain
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| Pete Fountain | |
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 Pete Fountain at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 2006 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Pierre Dewey LaFontaine, Jr. |
| Born | July 3, 1930 New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Genres | Dixieland Jazz |
| Occupations | Musician |
| Instruments | Clarinet |
Pete Fountain (born Pierre Dewey LaFontaine, Jr., July 3, 1930), is an American clarinetist based in New Orleans. He has played jazz, Dixieland and Creole music.
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[edit] Early life and education
According to a Belgian radio program ("La troisieme oreille", produced by Marc Danval), his name was originally Pierre de la Fontaine.[citation needed]
Fountain was born in New Orleans and started playing clarinet, heavily influenced by Benny Goodman and by Irving Fazola. Early on he played with the bands of Monk Hazel and Al Hirt. With his longtime friend, trumpeter George Girard, Fountain founded The Basin Street Six in 1950.
[edit] Lawrence Welk orchestra
After this band broke up, four years later Fountain was hired to join the Lawrence Welk orchestra and became well known for his many solos on Welk's ABC television show, The Lawrence Welk Show. Fountain was rumored to have quit when Welk refused to let him "jazz up" a Christmas carol. In an interview, Fountain said he left Welk because "Champagne and bourbon don't mix."[1]
[edit] Return to New Orleans
Fountain returned to New Orleans, played with The Dukes of Dixieland, then began leading bands under his own name. He owned his own club in the French Quarter in the 1960s and 1970s. He later acquired "Pete Fountain's Jazz Club" at the Riverside Hilton in downtown New Orleans.
The New Orleans Jazz Club presented "Pete Fountain Day" on October 19, 1959, with celebrations honoring the pride of their city, concluding with a packed concert that evening. His Quintett was made up of his studio recording musicians, Stan Kenton's bassist Don Bagley, vibeist Godfrey Hirch, pianist Merle Koch and the double bass drummer Jack Sperling. Fountain brought these same players together in 1963 when they played the Hollywood Bowl. Pete would make the trek to Hollywood many times, appearing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 56 times.
In 2003 Fountain closed his club at the Hilton with a performance before a packed house filled with musical friends and fans. He began performing two nights a week at Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi where he had a home (later destroyed by Hurricane Katrina).
After heart surgery in 2006, he performed at JazzFest, and helped reopen the Bay of St. Louis Casino. It has been renamed the Hollywood Casino. He performed his last show at the Hollywood Casino on December 8, 2010.[2]
[edit] Half Fast Walking Club
Fountain is a founder and the most prominent member of The Half Fast Walking Club, one of the best known marching Krewes that parade in New Orleans on Mardi Gras Day. The original name was "The Half-Assed Walking Club," and it was an excuse to take a "lubricated" musical stroll down the parade route. Pete changed the name under pressure exerted by the parade organizers. On Mardi Gras Day 2007, Pete again joined his Half Fast Walking Club, having missed the event in 2006 due to illness.
[edit] Musical Style
Fountain's clarinet work is noted for his sweet fluid tone. He has recorded over 100 LPs and CDs under his own name, some in the Dixieland style, many others with only peripheral relevance to any type of jazz.
Fountain leads the Pete Fountain Quintett, a New Orleans French Quarter jazz band of Fountain and his Creole-style music. It has had many musicians over the years but has primarily recorded with Jack Sperling on drums, bassist Don Bagley/ Morty Corb, vibeist Godfrey Hirch and pianist Merle Kock/ Stan Wrighisman.
[edit] Awards and honors
- 2006, Loyola University New Orleans awarded Fountain an honorary degree.
- On March 18, 2007, Pete Fountain was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.[3]
- On April 5, 2008, Fountain was inducted at the seventh annual Delta Music Museum Festival in Ferriday in Concordia Parish. An exhibit was dedicated to Fountain, and he received a star on the museum "Walk of Fame" sidewalk, according to the office of Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Compagno, Nick. "A Closer Walk with Pete Fountain". experienceneworleans.com. http://www.experienceneworleans.com/pete.html.
- ^ http://petefountain.blogspot.com/
- ^ "Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame Inductees 2007". http://louisianamusichalloffame.org/content/view/54/92/.
- ^ http://thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080405/NEWS01/304050052
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pete Fountain |
- Complete Pete Fountain recording history and discography
- Pete Fountain discography
- Interview with Pete Fountain
- With his men Pete Fountain Day 1959
- Live in Santa Monica
- Pete returns for Mardi Gras after Katrina
- Information on Pete Fountain from IMDB
- Pete Fountain on the Welk Show - Pete Fountain plays "Round and Round" on the Lawrence Welk Show in this 1957 video.
- Sample recordings Best of Pete Fountain
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