 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2003-08-05 20:08
We went to his concert near San Jose at the end of July. It was so wonderful. I had seen him twice in New Orleans at his club there, but this was so much better. The setting was beautiful, outdoors, and it was just the perfect evening. Keep tootin, Pete!
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2003-08-05 20:28
Carol, thanks for sharing. I first heard Pete back in the 50's. My mother had the FM radio on and the moment I heard that first note...I was hooked!! I saw him a time or two on Welk's program and in the meantime, I was buying a lot of his LP's.
I visited his French Quarter establishment in the late 60's when I was in the service. I went to one of his concerts a few years ago on Long Island, NY.
When I'm at work and one of his songs comes on, I stop everything and enjoy the miniconcert!
Needless to say, Pete has brought an incredible amount of musical joy into my life.
Can you tell us a little more about why the concert was so special to you?? Did he play any favorites of yours?
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Author: scoonba
Date: 2003-08-05 23:31
Pete Fountain has a contract with a casino down here and has concerts weekly for about another year now. Maybe I should go check one out.
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Author: wyatt
Date: 2003-08-06 00:55
i had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Pete play at the fest in New Orleans. He is really a cute guy. He had such joy being on the stage and just doing his thing.
He has one great smile and it come through in his music.
i bet he plays a pf mouthpiece with a pf reed all on a pf clarinet.(the big easy)
bob gardner}ÜJ
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2003-08-06 12:58
Scoonba, where do you live. Just wondering where "down here" is in case it's near where I am so I could try to hear him.
Leonard
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-08-06 13:59
.....but he's not as good as Alfred Gallodoro was, is he!
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Author: wyatt
Date: 2003-08-06 14:26
Al was great too. They both had a ball, but pete is famous and Al's not. However all the ladies loved Al.
i loved it when all got on a stage and informed everyone that he had done his first gig in this pit 70 or 80 years ago.
bob gardner}ÜJ
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2003-08-06 14:42
In the late 80's I went to Pete's Place in the Hilton in New Orleans, L.A. The music was great, but Mr. Fountain slid onstage for the second and third tunes and then dissappeared. The band was fabulous and the two tunes he participated in were tunes I had heard hundred of times on my P.F. albums. The fellows at my table who had slipped the mait're de $50 each for their seats were none too happy with Mr. P. F. about his brevity.
If all you wanted was a chance to see that gold plated/diamond studded LeBlanc clarinet you would have been happy as he had that. Is the crystal mouthpiece he was playing a PF?
I love his music, is he over what seemed to be a bad case of performance burn-out now?
TH
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Author: William
Date: 2003-08-06 15:10
Terry--I heard him in N.O. in the late ninties, and he fronted his band full-time, never leaving the stage. Must of been having "one of those nights" when you were there. BTW, PF he has a sense of humour--when he was guest soloist with our local Madison (WI) Symphony Orchestra, he gave each member of the clarinet section a speical gift: a personally autographed brand new package of VanDoren 1.5 reeds. The Principal clarinetist (my old college clarinet Professor) still treasures that unopened box of reeds and occassionally "pulls it out" for a brief chuckel or two.
And I love the story told by Larry Combs, when he first became Principal clarinet of the N.O. Symphony Orchestra, about sitting next to this smelly old fisherman at a warf resturant. The fisherman asked LC what he did for a liv'n. "I play clarinet" was LC's reply. The fisherman's eyes lite up, and he replied, "I play clarinet too--I'm Pete Fountain!!"
Pete Fountain is an American (if not, World) musical treasure.
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2003-08-08 04:33
i'm back again. I enjoyed the Pete Fountain concert especially because my husband was able to come with me. When I had seen P.F. in New Orleans, I was attending a convention and husband was home in California. My husband plays the drums and I had wanted him to see the drummer, Brian, didn't catch the last name. He is very tall with long legs and sits almost on his rump on the stage floor when he plays! Also when I saw P.F. in N.O., I wanted to get a picture of myself with him. He did this. I was too intimidated to even speak. I sent him a copy of the pictures and they were taken in his office there in the hotel. The wallpaper is red so the pictures turned out red. The next time I went back, I asked if I could get another picture. He agreed and said, let's go out in the hallway where it's not so red! I was so surprised that he remembered me. I was still too intimidated to say much. He was on stage the whole night both times, and I was just ga-ga. When he played in San Jose, the security was so tight that we could not get a picture with him. He was showing such marvelous technique in San Jose - making that clarinet do things that you don't usually hear, I especially love the growl, since hard as I try, I CAN'T do that!. His rendition of St. Louis Blues was quite naughty. Hadn't heard that before.
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Author: RussM
Date: 2003-09-24 00:52
Since he closed his club at the Hilton in New Orleans, Pete is playing two nights a week at Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis, MS. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
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Author: clarinet87
Date: 2003-09-25 13:07
When I practiced with the window open my neighbor said I sounded like Pete Fountain.![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
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Author: R13A
Date: 2003-09-25 14:08
When I practiced with the window open, my neighbor said I sounded like I should take lessons
Saw PF back in the mid 60's while I was playing in several Lousiana sym's.
Invited back stage, he was a total gentleman. Gave me a crystal mp and autographed record jackets and had the 'photog girl' take our pic and signed it .
Interestingly, he was all questions about what it was like to take formal lessons with the likes of Russianoff. PF admitted, he had no formal training and never took a 'real' lesson. Clearly, he was more interested in knowing what was going on in the clarinet world than in telling me about his world.
Interestingly, my mom sometimes watches reruns of The L WELK show and I've seen PF .......with a full head of hair & thinner and no gold plated clarinet (late 50's/early 60's).
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Author: William
Date: 2003-09-25 14:30
"When I practiced with the window open my neighbor said I sounded like Pete Fountain."
Ha!! When I was I high school, everyone called me "Benny" (ala Goodman). Now, when I practice, my neighbors's call me "Pete" (ala PF}
(and all the while, I was only trying to sound like was Larry Combs)
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