[Dixielandjazz] Pete Fountain

[J. D. Bryce]

Listmates:

Lawrence Welk put out a Hi-Fi LP on Coral around 1958 that was called 
"Lawrence Welk Plays Dixieland". The record featured Pete, who was pictured 
on the back, along with Welk. Selections on this LP are had: China Boy, 
Sweethearts on Parade, Blue Moods, Should I, Pete's Tail Fly, San Antonio 
Rose,  Barnyard Blues (Livery Stable Blues was the real name), S'Wonderful, 
TEa & Trumpets, Thou Swell, and Strike Up the Band.

I have this album and I am looking at it as I type this.

It in not a bad record.  The jazz is a bit structured for my taste, but Pete 
sounds good.
Shortly thereafter, Pete left Welk and returned to New Orleans to produce 
some fine examples of clarinettin'  By the late 1960s or early 1970s, his 
output had become more formulaic and less real jazz.  He was unquestionably 
the most recorded and publicized clarinetist of the 1960s, which probably 
explains why so many young clarinets who came up doing this period sound so 
much like Pete.

A similar phenomenon has happened in the last 20 year with soprano sax. 
Kenny G is the most recorded and broadcasted player of this instrument and 
thus kids think that his sound is THE sound for soprano.  My opinio is that 
he plays, at times, decent jazz passages, but his soprano sound is much too 
oboe-esque. The young ones ought to be listening to Kenny Davern or Bob 
Wilbur, but hey, that's just me.

This always happens when one artist dominates the recorded output of any 
instrument. Remember how virtually everybody in 1950 on alto sounded like 
Bird, and later, everybody on tenor tried to sound like Getz and 1955-65 
altos sounded like Desmond.

Today clarinets ought to be listening to Allan Vache,  Hennie Hoehne and a 
plethora of others.

Just my opinion.

Jack Bryce
A fairly notable, if obscure, clarinet stylist.