Dixieland Jazz - Pete Fountain Discography: Pete Fountain and Al Hirt - The Early Years

Monday, September 29, 2008

Pete Fountain and Al Hirt - The Early Years - Music Masters

Pete Fountain and Al Hirt - The Early Years

1970 Music Masters MM GS 1046

Side A: (Pete Fountain)
1. South Rampart Street Parade
2. Jazz Me Blues
3. When The Saints Go Marching In
4. Lonesome Trails
5. Thats A Plenty

Side B: (Al Hirt)
1. Faded Love
2. Orange Blossom Special
3. Blue Eyes Cryin In The Rain
4. A Million Miles Away Behind The Door
5. They Call The Wind Maria

Project Co-ordination by Vince J. Rundus
Released by
Music Masters, ltd.
Charlotte, N.C. 28211
Cover art by Terri Lee

Future Sound Marketing Distributors
For Albums, Tapes, Films 1-800-251-3550

I couldn't locate any real information on this LP. Music Masters released another LP billed as a "Pete Fountain TV Special - The Early Years".

Liner Notes:

Music has always been an important part of the American way of life. Almost everybody has a favorite type of music which can mean any number of things to each individual.

One persons favorite music may ease the pain of a lost love, while another person may use his favorite polka band's music to go out dancing and have a good time. Dixieland jazz has always fascinated me because it is so many things to its fans and the musicians who perform it.

In New Orleans you may hear Dixieland Jazz from the extreme settings of a lively Bourbon Street club to a funeral procession. It's amazing virtue is that it is appropriate in almost any setting. Its musicians have proven themselves appropriate in many different settings also.

This album lets you hear two of Dixieland's most commercially successful artists play back to back sets. Pete Fountain's five tunes are from a live performance of traditional standards such as "South Rampart Street Parade" and "When the Saint's Go Marching In". Al Hirt's set includes five studio cuts of some old favorites including Hirt's interpretations of several country classics.

This album will be unique in your record collection as it lets you bring Mardi Gras into your listening room or settle back and relax to Al's trumpet improvizations throughout these time tested standards.

V.J.R. (Vince J. Rundus)

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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.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Pete Fountain and Al Hirt - The Early Years - Music Masters

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