[Dixielandjazz] Pete Fountain

[Marek Boym]

Hi,
Coral was, I believe, an MCA label, so I don't know.  And as i have
said, even if it is the same material, how is one to know?
Anyway, I tend to agree with you as regards Fountain; I, too, find a
lot of his stuff not worth listening to for the most part.  Still, I
have several Fountain records that are not too bad; one, with Eddie
Miller, Bob Havens and Merle Koch, is excellent.  The one least worth
hearing is a Verve record with Al Hirt.  My mother brought it for me
from the States in 1961, when I was in the army.  I was very impressed
with the blurb about the two bearded giants of Dixieland, but much
less so with the music.
Nevertheless, I'd like to know who is playing what on those cassettes,
which I have not yet had the chance to hear.  I am afraid that some
numbers are the "star" stuff, despite the overall title "Dixieland
Classics" (you have used a different expression, but youknow what I
mean).
I agree with regards to Wilber and the late Kenny Davern (the latter
stopped playing the soprano sax after the break up of Soprano Summit.
Thereafter it was only the clarinet).
I agree as to Allan Vache, too.  I have never heard of Hennie Hoehne,
but I could add several other clarinettists: Evan Christopher, Pieter
Meiyers, Alain Marquet (French), Reimer von Essen (German), George
Huxley (an Englishman who also plays soprano, or perhaps the other way
round). et al.
Cheers

On 18 January 2012 20:57, J. D. Bryce <brycejd at comcast.net> wrote:
> 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.