Dixieland Jazz - Pete Fountain Discography: MGM

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Al Hirt with Pete Fountain - Metro Records

Al Hirt with Pete Fountain

1965 Metro (MGM) Records MS-517 Stereo / M-517 Mono

Pete is great on this LP, a must for your collection. Pete on the saxaphone is incredible. Some of Pete's best jazz work on this album. One of my favorite albums! - David Mekalian

Side One
1. South Rampart Street Parade
2. Panama
3. I'm Goin' Home
4. Jazz Me Blues
5. The Original Dixieland One Step

Side Two
1. Sugar (That Sugar Baby 0' Mine)
2. Tin Roof Blues
3. Washington And Lee Swing
4. Blue (And Broken-Hearted)
5. Wolverine Blues

Liner Notes:

A. & R. Coordinator: Irv Stiller
Director of Engineering: Val Valentin

Musicians:
Al Hirt Trumpet
Pete Fountain Clarinet
Bob Havens Trombone
Roy Zimmerman Piano
Bob Coquille Bass
Paul Edwards Drums

Al Hirt is undoubtedly the biggest trumpet man in the country - not only in physical make-up but in sound and technical prowess as well. The bearded behemoth of Bourbon Street struts his huge sounding horn on this fine Dixieland album for everyone to hear.

The album is filled with first-class Dixie standards - prime chestnuts that send the blood pressure soaring and start the feet prancing.

For openers there's the hard-hitting Ray Baduc-Bob Haggart classic South Rampart Street Parade which was featured by the high-stepping Bob Crosby band of more than two decades ago. In quick succession come other vintage swingers like Panama, Jazz Me Blues, Washing-ton And Lee Swing and Wolverine Blues. For lower-gear change of pace, Hirt plays choice items like Blue (And Broken-Hearted) and Sugar.

Added starter on this set is Pete Fountain - a hit-maker in his own right - who plays clarinet throughout the album and turns in a rare, but nonetheless spectacular, tenor sax solo on Washington And Lee Swing. The other first-class musicians on the album are: Bob Havens, trombone; Roy Zimmerman, piano; Bob Coquille, bass and Paul Edwards, drums.

All the flash and fire that make Al Hirt the Big Man on trumpet come roaring out of New Orleans in a session that vibrates with pace, excitement and solid swing.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

The Very Best of Al Hirt and Pete Fountain - MGM Records

The Very Best of Al Hirt and Pete Fountain

A Rare Recorded Appearance Together!

1964 MGM Records SE 4216 Stereo / E 4216 Mono

Side One
1. Washington And Lee Swing
2. I'm Goin' Some
3. Jazz Me Blues
4. Night And Day
5. South Rampart Street Parade
6. Sugar (That Sugar Baby 0' Mine)

Side two
1. Tin Roof Blues
2. Royal Garden Blues
3. Panama
4. Blue (And Broken-hearted)
5. The Original Dixieland One Step
6. Wolverine Blues

Liner Notes:

The Very Best of Al Hirt and Pete Fountain
A Rare Recorded Appearance Together!

Director of Engineering: Val Valentin
Reissue of Verve V-1028

Here are the two bearded wonders of Dixieland jazz together for a rare and rousing recorded appearance. And that automatically qualifies the program as The Very Best of Al Hirt and Pete Fountain.

For both Hirt and Fountain, born and bred in New Orleans, are true giants of traditional jazz. They have played in countless bands and groups, and, for a period, were together in a swinging band that rocked New Orleans right down to the waterfront.

Now each is a star in his own right. Al Hirt has built a coast-to-coast reputation as a monumental trumpet player, both in size and in the music he plays. His range is apparently limitless and his showmanship is legendary. He has quickly become a favorite on TV, where his appearances either with his group or as a trumpet soloist, are greeted with wild enthusiasm on both sides of the camera.

Pete Fountain grew up in a musical family and has been a jazz clarinetist since his early teens. He gained national attention as the smooth-toned clarinetist in the Lawrence Welk band during 1957 and 1958. After his national reputation was secure, Pete built his own group and holds forth in New Orleans as one of the prime tourist attractions.

Both Al and Pete have had best-selling records, top-flight TV exposure, coast-to-coast travel with quality appearances and in quality locations. Each is a master of his instrument.

Listen to Al blow on Night and Day, and you'll hear why he's held in such awe by trumpet players the country over. Listen to Pete play on Tin Roof Blues and hear why his style and sound have made him a favorite everywhere. As a bonus, listen closely to Washington And Lee Swing, and you'll hear Pete in one of his rare recorded appearances on tenor saxophone!

Accompanying Al and Pete are a fine bunch of musicians. Bob Havens plays trombone, Roy Zimmerman handles piano, Bob Coquille is on bass, and Paul Edwards plays drums. All the flash and the fire and the verve that make Al Hirt the Big Man On Trumpet, and Pete Fountain the New Leader on Clarinet are present on this program of Blockbustin' Dixie.

Notes by AVERY FINCH

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.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Al Hirt with Pete Fountain - Metro Records

Sunday, May 27, 2007

The Very Best of Al Hirt and Pete Fountain - MGM Records

The Pete Fountain Musical Timeline

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