Dixieland Jazz - Pete Fountain Discography: Zenith Presents Pete Fountain and The Dukes of Dixieland

Friday, March 23, 2007

Zenith Presents Pete Fountain and The Dukes of Dixieland - MCA Records

Zenith Presents

Pete Fountain / The Dukes of Dixieland

1972 Zenith Records (MCA Records Special Products) SYS-5506 Stereo

Side One:
Pete Fountain
1. Lonesome Road
2. Sweethearts On Parade
3. Wabash Blues
4. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
5. Beale Street Blues

Side Two:
The Dukes of Dixieland
1. King Of The Road
2. Whispering
3. Alexander's Ragtime Band
4. Someday You'll Be Sorry
5. Clarinet Marmalade

Liner Notes:

Encore Vol. VII Great Artists Of Our Time
Zenith Presents Pete Fountain and The Dukes of Dixieland

MCA Special Products. Part of the Encore series box set offered by Zenith in the early 1970's. Nice sexy cheesecake cover!

Pete Fountain:
New Orleans, the home of jazz, is also the home of Pete Fountain. As a young clarinetist in his high-school band, Pete was captivate( by the jazz traditions of bygone days and vowed to bring back the glory of Dixieland. His early work attracted the attention of Lawrence Welk, who hired the young musician to lead a Dixieland unit on the Welk television program.

Later, Pete bought his own New Orleans nightclub, formed his own combo and soon was putting out best-selling albums. The Fountain clarinet work has been compared favorably to the style of the master of that instrument - Benny Goodman... but to write Pete off as an imitator would be doing him a gross injustice. Pete Fountain plays his clarinet with a flair that does honor to a great musical instrument. And he leads his group in a manner that is a tribute to jazz itself.

Jazz is dead? Nonsense! It's alive and well in New Orleans... and Pete Fountain is keeping it going!

The Dukes of Dixieland:
One of the great latter-day jazz combos, the Dukes started out in New Orleans. They were known as the Basin Street Five when they were discovered by Horace Heidt, and the oldest group member was 18. A successful tour with the Heidt organization netted them a series of nightclub bookings on their return to New Orleans .. . and the Dukes were on their way up.

Dixieland buffs created a demand for records by the Dukes and launched the group into a recording series that has been extremely rewarding. The Dukes have a youthful, driving style that distinguishes their brand of Dixieland jazz from their contemporaries. There is a spontaneous exuberance that characterizes the performance of the Dixieland Dukes, and it can be best described as energetic and electric.

In spite of the controversy that has always existed between New Orleans and Chicago jazz, the New Orleans-based Dukes have a large following in the Windy City. Nightspot operators in Chicago know that when they put up the sign, "The Dukes of Dixieland: Appearing Nightly," they'll be packing in the crowds. The Dukes are sure-fire crowd pleasers!

Liner notes - Al Schneider

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: nice album cover. I knew a guy named Dave Mekalian from Indian Orchard Ma. who had a bodaous album collection are you that Dave.; August 18, 2007 at 7:40 AM

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Pete's Bio

Peter Dewey Fountain, Jr. was born July 3, 1930 in New Orleans, the cradle of American music, Jazz. He was a skinny kid who spent too much time hanging around the front stoop of the Top Hat Dance Hall near his home. The Top Hat was a stronghold of Dixieland Jazz and Jazz already had a strong hold on Pete Fountain. But, oh the sounds! This was music straight from the soul. Sounds that would never be written in stone, that would always be brand new because they were purely personal. Pete heard all the greats in New Orleans and he knew he wanted to play Jazz.

After endless hours of practicing and listening to the recordings of Benny Goodman and Irving Fazola, the personal sound of Pete Fountain began to emerge and it was "Fat." By the time Pete was 16, he had already gained a reputation on the street, Bourbon Street.

Through these formative years of his musical training, Pete performed with several sensational bands. One such band was the Junior Dixieland Band which performed in the famous Parisian Room-often performing for legendary jazz men. It was a heady time of life and Pete Fountain was savoring every moment.

A few years later Pete joined Phil Zito's International Dixieland Express. They were playing the El Morocco on the street. It was there he met Beverly. She had decided very young to marry a musician and Pete had decided very young to be a musician.

Pete was performing with some of the best known jazz bands in the country--The Basin Street Six, The Dukes of Dixieland, Al Hirt--and it was great.

Until 1956...Be-Bop and Rock & Roll were the hot new sounds, and the music that Pete loved could not provide him or anybody else with a living. Jazz, in its own birthplace New Orleans, was definitely asleep. He gave up music. He had no choice. With a wife and three small children to support, music was a luxury he could not afford.

All he really wanted to do was play music. All he needed was a band, a bandstand and a place to play.

In 1957, Lawrence Welk, host of the nation's most popular television program, wanted Pete on the show, and that kind of opportunity only comes once in a lifetime. For two years, Pete was the most famous Jazz musician on television. Pete Fountain became a household name and New Orleans Jazz made a comeback that has never faded.

After two years in California, Pete came home to New Orleans. He had learned what every New Orleanian has to accept as a fact of life. you can leave New Orleans, but it never leaves you. The cuisine, the sights and the sounds.

Pete immediately opened his own jazz club in the heart of the French Quarter. His national fame and fans followed him to New Orleans which allowed Pete's club to expand, through the past 34 years, into the largest jazz club in the city.

Pete has always been considered an ambassador of New Orleans Jazz as he performs his music on guest appearances on network television and specials. Some of the highlights have been such classics as the Ed Sullivan, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Andy Williams specials. More recently his credits include A Close up of Pete Fountain, Super Bowl Saturday Night and the National Memorial Day Concert. He also performed 59 times on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show."

Pete has performed at four U.S. State Dinners by command performance for four Presidents of the United States. He has also performed for Pope John Paul II at the New Orleans Papal Mass with an attendance of over 400,000 people.

During Pete's career, he has recorded 56 albums and has been a featured performer on 44 additional albums for a total of 100 recordings. Three of Pete's albums have gone gold, "Pete Fountain's New Orleans," "The Blues," and "Mr. New Orleans." He also received a gold record for his hit single "Just A Closer Walk With Thee."

Through Pete's career he has received numerous awards and honors including a Doctorate of Music from the College of Santa Fe; he was voted the #1 Jazz Clarinetist for 13 consecutive years in the Playboy Readers Poll; he was King of Bacchus; he received an Emmy for the 1990 Super Bowl Pre-Game Music; and he was awarded the 1993 Louisiana Legends Award.

Pete has performed with music legends ranging from Louis Armstrong and Harry James to Harry Connick, Jr. Yet to this day his greatest thrill is taking the stage and performing the music he loves, watching as it works its irresistible magic on the audience. Straight to the soul.

Pete Fountain and his wife, Beverly, have three children and five grandchildren. He divides his DAYS between his family, various charitable organizations and his favorite fishing hole.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Zenith Presents Pete Fountain and The Dukes of Dixieland - MCA Records

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