 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: knotty
Date: 2016-08-06 18:55
Sadness. Watched him from his Welk days.
~ Musical Progress: None ~
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2016-08-06 21:23
Fountain liked to say that he learned the basics from his beer-truck-driving, naturally musical father and his teachers at Warren Easton High School, and then "went to the conservatory on Bourbon St" for his advanced degree. He always knew how how wanted to play clarinet and even when he tried to copy Irving Fazola and Benny Goodman, the result never sounded like either but only like him. He could learn any tune quickly just listening to it once, and he had a rhythmic bounce and style of improvisation that always stayed moored to the melody. Recording over 100 jazz clarinet albums during a period when the many shades of rock predominated is no mean feat, and it is no surprise that for many, his name is the first to pop up when you mention the word "clarinet." He chose to play a "swinging dixieland" style that was broadly endearing and helped keep our instrument from extinction in the fickle world of popular culture. Certainly, many a young person (including young Tom Ridenour!) chose the clarinet as the instrument they wanted to learn because of him, even if they later branched out into very different styles of playing.
I will miss him, especially his many live performances I have heard living in the same city--New Orleans.
Post Edited (2016-08-13 05:53)
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2016-08-07 03:46
I remember seeing a young Pete Fountain on one of the early Lawrence Welk shows that was in black and white before color TV and the camera caught him unaware and he had a very bored look on his face.
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Author: Ralph
Date: 2016-08-07 05:50
I had the good fortune of passing through New Orleans and catching Pete Fountain's show at his club (pre-Hilton) during the late '60s. He is one of my favorites and will surely be missed.
Ralph
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Author: mmatisoff
Date: 2016-08-07 20:18
My first clarinet album (vinyl) was Pete Fountain. He will be greatly missed.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2016-08-07 22:45
GBK, thank you. Users on still-bughouse Windows 10 might want to avoid that wwltv-news website. It defeated my "No Pop-Ups" setting with a full-screen ad that completely stalled my computer. The only way out was a cold-boot.
The New York Times website has an August 6, 2016 obituary by Peter Keepnews, "Pete Fountain, a Clarinetist Known for His High-Spirited New Orleans Jazz, Is Dead at 86.
http://www.nytimes.com/section/obituaries/
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2016-08-07 22:47)
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