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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2016-12-07 07:18
Gregory A. Harrison, who states that he used to make reeds for Pete Fountain and take care of mouthpiece repairs, adjustments, and replacements for him shares some details on the measurements of Pete's crystal mouthpiece and facing, and his preferences in reeds.
Harrison also transcribes parts of some of Fountain's fancy work on "China Boy" and "Tiger Rag" and shows how Fountain made use of the articulated G# feature on his 6-ring clarinet.
http://clarinet.org/2016/12/07/the-style-and-sound-of-pete-fountain.
This article appears in the December 2016 issue of The Clarinet.
Post Edited (2016-12-07 17:52)
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Author: AndyW
Date: 2016-12-07 18:25
Thanks for the link & info, I didn't know Pete had the articulated G#....
[ and transcriptions too yay! ]
I do wonder which commercially available off-the-shelf mouthpiece might be closest to the given dimensions :
Window: 7.75 mm base and 11.9 mm wide tip with a length of 30.2 mm
Facing (O’Brien scale): Tip .047 (1.14 mm); .034/4; .024/8; 015/11; .01/14 .0015/23
Mouthpiece length: 85.7 mm
Interior: “A” shaped sides into chamber with feathered corners via Dremel diamond bit
-Andy-
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Author: Ed
Date: 2016-12-07 21:06
In the article it mentions Sidney Forrest's clarinet as a large bore- a Selmer 9*. It was my understanding that the 9 was large bore, while the 9* was Selmer's smaller bore offering. Perhaps someone has info to clarify this.
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2016-12-07 21:33
I find the article interesting but I can not vouch for the accuracy of everything in it. Pete did play on crystal mouthpieces with a fairly wide opening and relatively soft reeds. From some point in the 1960s, he did use the 6 ring big bore Leblanc with articulated G#. The transcriptions are samples of great playing by Fountain.
When discussing clarinets, the author seems to be less reliable. LeBlanc did not provide an entirely new model for Fountain to play. I saw him give a presentation (at Werlein's Music in New Orleans) on the Leblanc LL he actually used for most of the Welk program appearances, and for a little while after he returned to New Orleans. As many people know, LeBlanc decided to see what would happen if they gave him a larger bore Dynamic model to play. Then they gradually morphed that with articulated G#, added gold keys and a few other things into the Pete Fountain, and then the Big Easy, model.
I suppose the person who could really say yeh or nay to each point in the article would be Tom Laughlin (spelling corrected), who played at Pete's funeral, has at least one of Pete's clarinets, and is considered by some to have "apprenticed" to him for many years.
I recall that the Series 9* Selmer did have a smaller bore than the Series 9. And those "impossible" passages in China Boy that are made easier on the 6-key articulated G# mechanism can be played even at that fast tempo by many virtuoso clarinets even though many of us ordinary mortals might have trouble with them.
Post Edited (2016-12-08 00:40)
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Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2016-12-07 22:59
Great article--thanks for the link. Greg Harrison was helpful in getting me back in touch with Pete shortly before he passed away. A great guy with a real devotion to Pete's musical contribution.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2016-12-08 00:12
Hi Seabreeze - thanks for the article, and I love your comments on this thread!
There are two corrections I need to offer:
1. The clarinetist you're referring to is Tim Laughlin (pronounced Lok-lin). He does play on "Betsy" given to him by Pete.
2. While Pete and Tim had great mutual respect for one another (and were very close personal friends), it is somewhat of a misconception that Tim "'apprenticed' to him for many years".
Tim met Pete on his (Tim's) 17th birthday, and frequently went to listen to Pete (from outside, because he was too young to go into the club at the time).
Years back an article was printed which stated something to the effect that Tim's mentor was Pete. I've seen the comment in several various dust jackets, liner notes, articles, etc. I believe that's where the misconception of apprenticeship began.
I do know many people (myself included) believe the lineage goes: Irving Fazola -> Pete Fountain -> Tim Laughlin. However, Pete never mentored under Irving, and I don't believe Tim "mentored" under Pete - though both Pete and Tim listened to their "predecessors" whenever they could.
To understand Tim's playing - it would make sense to listen to the great cornetist Connie Jones as well as Irving, Pete, etc.
Unfortunately, as is well documented - most of Pete's historical clarinets (including one given to him by Irving Fazola's widow) were washed away during Katrina. For this reason, Gregory A. Harrison might be one of a very select few who know the specifics about Pete's mouthpieces?
As a side note, Leblanc did offer a "Pete Fountain" crystal mouthpiece for a while. I own a couple of them and use them as my primary mouthpieces. I contacted Pomerico after Leblanc ended production of the mouthpiece, and asked if Pomerico had actually been the manufacture of the Leblanc Pete Fountain model mouthpiece, and the response from Pomerico was "yes."
So, I'm not sure the Leblanc/Pomerico model's design was even slightly close to what Pete actually played, but perhaps that would be a point to investigate further.
Cheers,
Fuzzy
Post Edited (2016-12-08 00:13)
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2016-12-08 00:28
Thanks Fuzzy for the correction and the compliment--You're right, the name is correctly spelled Tim Laughlin. I've heard Laughlin many times, including appearances at the annual French Quarter Festival (one with Connie Jones). He definitely does not copy Fountain. I'd say his playing is very individual and more directly influenced by Sidney Bechet, among others.
The relationship between Fountain and Laughlin is not a formal apprenticeship, but Laughlin did spend a lot of time musically hanging out with Fountain, and Fountain did give him one of his eponymous clarinets, and the two have dropped hints for many years they have have some sort of relationship in the canonic succession of New Orleans jazz clarinetists...so I suppose we would still have to say that Laughlin is the closest thing to a Fountain successor that Fountain himself would recognize and leave it at that. (Even though they do not play the same, anymore than Faz and Pete really played the same.)
Have you heard the two Music Minus One records on playing New Orleans Jazz that Laughlin did?
Post Edited (2016-12-08 01:03)
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2016-12-08 00:49
Yes, I have both of them...they came out roughly around the same time my interest in trad jazz was reignited. (Along with a nice Music Minus One by Evan Christopher too.)
I love Tim's original arrangements. The movie "Mr. Church" (with Eddie Murphy) actually procured a couple of Tim's tunes, but I haven't seen the movie to see/hear how much (if any) of the tunes made it into the movie. Coincidentally, I think one of the tunes was "Blues for Faz"!
(Sorry - didn't mean to take this thread away from your original post about Pete and the wonderful article you shared.)
Fuzzy
Post Edited (2016-12-08 00:49)
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