Friday, March 23, 2007

Zenith Presents Pete Fountain and The Dukes of Dixieland - MCA Records

Zenith Presents
Pete Fountain / The Dukes of Dixieland



1972 Zenith Records (MCA Records Special Products) SYS-5506 Stereo

Side One:
Pete Fountain
1. Lonesome Road
2. Sweethearts On Parade
3. Wabash Blues
4. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
5. Beale Street Blues

Side Two:
The Dukes of Dixieland
1. King Of The Road
2. Whispering
3. Alexander's Ragtime Band
4. Someday You'll Be Sorry
5. Clarinet Marmalade


Liner Notes:

Encore Vol. VII Great Artists Of Our Time
Zenith Presents Pete Fountain and The Dukes of Dixieland

MCA Special Products. Part of the Encore series box set offered by Zenith in the early 1970's. Nice sexy cheesecake cover!

Pete Fountain:
New Orleans, the home of jazz, is also the home of Pete Fountain. As a young clarinetist in his high-school band, Pete was captivate( by the jazz traditions of bygone days and vowed to bring back the glory of Dixieland. His early work attracted the attention of Lawrence Welk, who hired the young musician to lead a Dixieland unit on the Welk television program.

Later, Pete bought his own New Orleans nightclub, formed his own combo and soon was putting out best-selling albums. The Fountain clarinet work has been compared favorably to the style of the master of that instrument - Benny Goodman... but to write Pete off as an imitator would be doing him a gross injustice. Pete Fountain plays his clarinet with a flair that does honor to a great musical instrument. And he leads his group in a manner that is a tribute to jazz itself.

Jazz is dead? Nonsense! It's alive and well in New Orleans... and Pete Fountain is keeping it going!

The Dukes of Dixieland:
One of the great latter-day jazz combos, the Dukes started out in New Orleans. They were known as the Basin Street Five when they were discovered by Horace Heidt, and the oldest group member was 18. A successful tour with the Heidt organization netted them a series of nightclub bookings on their return to New Orleans .. . and the Dukes were on their way up.

Dixieland buffs created a demand for records by the Dukes and launched the group into a recording series that has been extremely rewarding. The Dukes have a youthful, driving style that distinguishes their brand of Dixieland jazz from their contemporaries. There is a spontaneous exuberance that characterizes the performance of the Dixieland Dukes, and it can be best described as energetic and electric.

In spite of the controversy that has always existed between New Orleans and Chicago jazz, the New Orleans-based Dukes have a large following in the Windy City. Nightspot operators in Chicago know that when they put up the sign, "The Dukes of Dixieland: Appearing Nightly," they'll be packing in the crowds. The Dukes are sure-fire crowd pleasers!

Liner notes - Al Schneider

1 comment:

  1. nice album cover. I knew a guy named Dave Mekalian from Indian Orchard Ma. who had a bodaous album collection are you that Dave.

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