[Dixielandjazz] Re: Carl Fontana

[Haupt Dave]

I was saddened to hear of Carl Fontana's passing.  As
a youthful newbie to jazz, he was the first trombonist
I heard who really stood out from the rest.  At the
time, my jazz exposure was via attendance at Dick
Gibson's jazz concert series at Denver's Paramount
Theater.

In January of 1991 (the reason I remember the month so
well wil become evident shortly), the lineup included
Carl Fontana and Urbie Green on trombone.  The two of
them squeezed the last possible drop of melody out of
"My Buddy" during their duet.  But it was Carl who
brought the house down.

For his solo, he chose to play "America The
Beautiful".  Not a tune normally played at a jazz
concert.  But you see, only a few days before, we had
engaged Saddam Hussein in Kuwait and the Persion Gulf
War had begun.  By choosing to play this tune, Carl
not only showed off his talents as a jazz musician,
but also showed his sensitivity to the emotions of the
public and in a very important way, connected with all
2,000 people in that audience.

And the performance he gave, my goodness.  The rhythm
section was Dick Hyman, Ed Thigpen, and the
Denver-based neo-bop bassist Paul Warburton.  The tune
began in a straight ahead enough manner and you were
ready for the audience to start singing along.  But
before long, you found yourself enchanted with
variations in both 3/4 and 4/4, and a bossa nova
sounding section.  It was incredible how much he could
stretch this melody yet retain enough of it for even a
jazz newbie as I was, to know what he was playing.

His performance garnered that evening's only standing
ovation, and when it was time for the encore, the
audience kept yelling for Fontana.

Dave Haupt
Santa Rosa, CA

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