Godfrey Hirsch At Pete's Place, New Orleans - Godfrey Hirsch and His Vibes - Coral Records

Godfrey Hirsch At Pete's Place, New Orleans

Featuring Pete Fountain

1965 Coral CRL 757475 Stereo / CRL 57475 Mono

Side One
1. Ja-Da
2. Quiet Nights
3. Muskrat Ramble
4. Debbie
5. Red Roses For A Blue Lady
6. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans

Side Two
1. Love For Sale
2. Panama
3. Willow Weep For Me
4. Momma Was There
5. Josephine
6. Tin Roof Blues

Liner Notes:

Vibraphone Solos With Instrumental Accompaniment

The instrument used on this Album is the "Musser Century Vibe" used exclusively by Godfrey Hirsch.

Personnel:
Godfrey Hirsch - Vibes
Pete Fountain - Clarinet
Eddie Miller - Tenor Saxophone
Earl Vuiovitch - Piano
Paul Guma - Guitar
Oliver "Stick" Felix - Bass
Paul Edwards - Drums
Nick Fatool - Drums

You know Godfrey Hirsch if you've ever seen Pete Fountain's group in action. He plays vibes, and his choreography for mallets is certainly something to behold. A great showman, he also makes an invaluable contribution to the ensemble in terms of color, and when the rhythm needs extra punch he shifts over to the second percussion chair to beat a snare drum.

As Pete's right-hand man, Godfrey works and lives a great deal of the time in Pete's Place, New Orleans. In-deed, when the boss is away on missions of importance, it is Godfrey who usually takes over in his place. That's right. He takes Pete's place in Pete's Place. Pardon the emphasis.

Most of the performances on this record were made during Mardi Gras in 1964 and 1965, when Pete Fountain was out on the streets, not roistering or behaving in any unseemly fashion, but marching his music like a well-brought-up son of the Crescent City.

There were some musician guests down there for the festivities, and after a while they hied their weary feet to Pete's place of refreshment. You may have heard drummer Nick Fatool enjoying himself in 1964 on the earlier album, Pete's Place (CRL 57453), but this time there is another visitor, Eddie Miller. Not that Eddie is any newcomer to New Orleans, because he was born there. Normally, he is active on the West Coast, where he participates in many of those sessions which help to keep his hometown's jazz idiom alive, but here his tenor saxophone is heard instead of Pete's clarinet on three tracks.

Thus it is Pete's group, without Pete, but with guests, and headed by Godfrey Hirsch, that is ready to entertain you in this set. Many of the numbers are those used to introduce shows at the club before the clarinetist mounts the stand, and they roll with ease and fluidity in familiar routines, Eddie Miller fitting right in as though he were one of the regulars.

Ja-Da, the opener, is one of those good of good ones. In fact, it has been quietly rocking the nation ever since 1918, the year when New Orleans jazz really got going on its travels around the world. The vibes and Oliver Felix's bass move it out, the mood relaxed and the tempo medium, Nick Fatool kicking it along with accurate accentuations. Enter Eddie Miller, very much at ease and swinging freely. There follow exchanges between bass and drums, between vibes and tenor, and then the out chorus. The performance makes a good introduction to an album that is smoothly professional and never exhibitionistic. Because the men know where they're going on the well-organized charts, there is no fuss and no wasted effort.

The program agreeably contrasts old standards from the New Orleans repertoire, such as Muskrat Ramble, Panama and Tin Roof Blues, with others of more recent vintage like Red Roses For A Blue Lady and Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans. There is also a bow in the direction of Brazil and Antonio Carlos Jobim with Quiet Nights, where the Hirsch versatility is demonstrated in dark colors appropriate to a nocturnal mood. On this, on the pretty Debbie, and on Momma Was There, which provide changes of pace, he plays with a restraint and delicacy that recall Red Norvo's in similar contexts. On the more insistently danceable tempos, he swings with an insidious but well-defined beat. The effective tempo changes on Willow Weep for Me show off his rhythmic control very handsomely, and this interpretation, especially, reveals the close understanding that exists within Pete Fountain's quintet. Its tonal quality is excellent and it moves as one over Paul Edwards' tasteful brushwork. There are passages elsewhere, too, where each of its members shines individually, Panama giving first guitarist Paul Guma and then pianist Earl Vuiovitch a sixteen-bar opportunity to take off.

All too soon, Eddie Miller is sounding the sad, forlorn strains of Tin Roof Blues, and it is time to leave Pete's Place, but it is some consolation to know that it is left in the very able hands of Godfrey Hirsch.

- STANLEY DANCE

Happiness Is... - Godfrey Hirsch and His Vibes - Coral Records

Happiness Is... Godfrey Hirsch and His Vibes

Featuring Pete Fountain

1966 Coral CRL 757489 Stereo / CRL 57489 Mono

Side One
1. Happiness Is
2. So Nice
3. Hanky Panky
4. What's New Pussycat? From The Charles K. Feldman Production "What's New Pussycat?"
5. Flamingo
6. Juno

Side Two
1. Whispering
2. Born Free From The Columbia Picture "Born Free"
3. Lara's Theme From Dr. Zhivago From The Mgm Picture "Dr. Zhlvago"
4. What Now My Love
5. Strangers In The Night A Theme From The Universal Picture "A Man Could Get Killed"
6. Summertime

Liner Notes:

Produced By Charles "Bud" Dant
Cover Photo By Hal Buksbaum

Personnel:
Godfrey Hirsch - Vibes
Pete Fountain - Clarinet
Stan Wrightsman - Piano
Morty Corb - Bass
Al Hendrickson - Guitar
Jack Sperling - Drums

The instrument, used on this Album is the "Musser Century Vibe" used exclusively by Godfrey Hirsch.

It is with a great deal of pleasure that we bring you this HAPPINESS IS album by the inimitable vibist from New Orleans, Godfrey Hirsch. The instrumentals packaged here kick along at a delightful pace, from the opening four bars of the title tune to the final eight of Summertime.

Beginning with Happiness Is, Godfrey settles into a swingin' groove, and then bounces into So Nice, backed by the excellent guitar solos of Al Hendrickson, with Jack Sperling laying down a good beat on drums.

What's New Pussycat? gets a brand new treatment by the group, and if Stan Wrightsman's funky piano doesn't make you happy, nothing can. Time out for a little Hanky Panky, with Morty Corb on bass, backing up Godfrey's flamboyant vibes for some fun and games with this one.

A good standard at any time, Flamingo has been given a new look - an old friend in modern dress. An imposing newcomer, Juno, written by Godfrey with Charles "Bud" Dant, comes in for exciting treatment, completing Side I.

Whispering and Summertime, the first and last numbers, respectively, on Side II, are two more of the great standards that Godfrey's fans call for when he's playing with Pete Fountain at Pete's Place in New Orleans.

Recent hit movies have provided some marvelous material for the mellow vibes of our talented artist, and the group gets together here for a bow to three of them, Born Free, Lara's Theme From Dr. Zhivago and Strangers In The Night, from "A Man Could Get Killed."

What Now My Love...and what more could you want besides another helping of musical improvisation by Godfrey Hirsch? Happiness Is...Godfrey Hirsch!

- Margaret Linn

Pete Fountain - A Closer Walk With Thee - Coral Records

A Closer Walk With Thee

1959 Coral 45 rpm 7" EP CRL ES 4288 Stereo / CRL EC 81188 Mono

Side A:
1. A Closer Walk
2. When The Saints Come Marching In March

Side B:
1. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
2. When It's Sleepy Time Down South

Liner Notes:

Personnel:
Clarinet Pete Fountain
Piano Stan Wrightsman
Bass Morty Corb
Drums Jack Sperling

These songs are from he LP PETE FOUNTAIN'S NEW ORLEANS Coral CRL 757282 Stereo / CRL 57282 Mono

Clarinet Solos with Rhythm Accompaniment

No matter how far upstream jazz may have come from New Orleans, there exists a nostalgia, in some cases a reverence, in most minds, for that early cradle of American music. And, as a general rule, New Orleans musicians help to perpetuate that nostalgia and reverence. They live on streets with wonderful names. They study in time-honored tradition. They begin their professional lives in a flamboyant manner. Then they work on other streets with even more wonderful names. And, at least since that first wave or two, which went to Chicago, they just never want to leave home.

With pianist Stan Wrightsman, bassist Morty Corb and drummer Jack Sperling, all of them free-wheeling swingers, Pete demonstrates what has been a long time developing in this guided tour through his musical life - that Pete Fountain is a wonderful clarinetist, a member of that old school of warm, personally communicative musicians whose playing denies a dateline. What can be heard here is an excellent musician, accompanied by other excellent musicians, playing songs that are as familiar as the seasons of the year, allowing talent and artistry to grace each with that pleasant freshness that each season brings.

But now I am getting carried away by words, and the temptation is strong to close with some play on his name, such a wonderful one for a jazz musician. I thought for the moment that such a working of his name into the album title would be especially fitting. But Pete Fountain's New Orleans is probably the best name that there could be for this collection. If You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans, you'll know how happy he is to be back. And this is the eminently satisfying music of a happy man.

- BILL COSS

Pete Fountain's New Orleans - Coral Records

Pete Fountain's New Orleans

1959 Coral CRL 757282 Stereo / CRL 57282 Mono

Side One

1. While We Danced At The Mardi Gras

2. A Closer Walk

3. When The Saints Come Marching In March

4. When It's Sleepy Time Down South

5. Ol' Man River

6. Cotton Fields

Side Two

1. Sweethearts On Parade

2. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans

3. Basin Street Blues

4. Lazy River

5. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans

6. Tin Roof Blues

Liner Notes:

PETE FOUNTAIN'S NEW ORLEANS
Clarinet Solos with Rhythm Accompaniment

No matter how far upstream jazz may have come from New Orleans, there exists a nostalgia, in some cases a reverence, in most minds, for that early cradle of American music. And, as a general rule, New Orleans musicians help to perpetuate that nostalgia and reverence. They live on streets with wonderful names. They study in time-honored tradition. They begin their professional lives in a flamboyant manner. Then they work on other streets with even more wonderful names. And, at least since that first wave or two, which went to Chicago, they just never want to leave home.

Pete Fountain is a New Orleans musician and he fits that pattern in a manner almost too good to be true.

Born there in 1930 (July 3rd), he studied clarinet with Mr. Allessandra of the New Orleans Symphony. Although he played jazz during those early years, it wasn't until he was nineteen that he worked his first professional jazz job. "It was the night that Fazola died. They needed someone to substitute for him, so I took his job in a strip place." That was an odd coincidence, because Irving Fazola, another New Orleans musician who didn't like to leave home, and Benny Goodman were the two greatest influences on Fountain ("my two real idols") , and they still are, as is evident in his playing.

"I had to lie about my age to get that job. After a little while the management found out and fired me, so I started gigging around the city, anywhere I could work."

Then, several years ago, Pete did leave New Orleans, and Lawrence Welk confused his listeners and watchers somewhat by hiring Pete as a soloist, presenting him once an evening with a small unit from the band in some jazz selection.

This viewer at least (and I have always been a steady customer, because the Lawrence Welk program is continually the best comedy show on television) was disturbed by Welk's perpetuation of the age-old legend that jazzmen couldn't read music. He even apologized to his audience in that way one evening, in explaining away Pete's seeming inactivity during most of the band numbers. But audience reaction was enthusiastic and Pete gratefully acknowledges the debt which he owes to Welk for his current jazz success.

In 1957, I finally had the opportunity to hear Fountain without Welk, when he sat-in with the Bobby Hackett sextet in the Voyageur Room. He was already beginning to feel the pinch of once-a-week jazz, and his enthusiasm that night was contagious, and so was his playing.

Perhaps that was the breaking point, for, although he stayed with Welk for a year after that, he had begun to collect train, bus and plane schedules from anywhere to New Orleans.

This year the urge became too strong and back he went. Now he lives on Annunciation Street and works in a club called the Bateau Lounge on Bourbon Street (what did I tell you about those names?).

He has "a small interest in that club. Hey, you know what, we play six hours a night, and the place is packed from nine until one practically every night. You know that puts a little bread on the table" (all of this in less of a Southern accent than has Shorty Rogers).

During the day he's still studying: "There's always so much more to learn." But at night, for six hours, with just a rhythm section, he makes the bread that goes on the table, believing that by the time that all the publicity from the Welk show comes to an end, he may be lucky enough to have built a sufficient reputation of his own.

"There's still quite a bit of jazz in New Orleans, you know. In proportion, we probably have more than you have in New York City. We certainly have more than in Los Angeles. On Bourbon Street alone, there's seven Dixieland bands. Plus me. You know, me and the rhythm. We just swing away."

That, this album will show. With pianist Stan Wrightsman, bassist Morty Corb and drummer Jack Sperling, all of them free-wheeling swingers, Pete demonstrates what has been a long time developing in this guided tour through his musical life - that Pete Fountain is a wonderful clarinetist, a member of that old school of warm, personally communicative musicians whose playing denies a dateline. What can be heard here is an excellent musician, accompanied by other excellent musicians, playing songs that are as familiar as the seasons of the year, allowing talent and artistry to grace each with that pleasant freshness that each season brings.

But now I am getting carried away by words, and the temptation is strong to close with some play on his name, such a wonderful one for a jazz musician. I thought for the moment that such a working of his name into the album title would be especially fitting. But Pete Fountain's New Orleans is probably the best name that there could be for this collection. If You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans, you'll know how happy he is to be back. And this is the eminently satisfying music of a happy man.

Bill Coss

Pete Fountain's New Orleans - MCA Records

Pete Fountain's New Orleans

1972 MCA Records MCA-505 Stereo

Selections Contained In This Album Previously Released On Coral Records, Crl-757282, Under The Same Title.

Side One
1. While We Danced At The Mardi Gras
2. A Closer Walk
3. When The Saints Come Marching In March
4. When It's Sleepy Time Down South
5. Ol' Man River
6. Cotton Fields

Side Two
1. Sweethearts On Parade
2. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
3. Basin Street Blues
4. Lazy River
5. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
5. Tin Roof Blues

Liner Notes:

Pete Fountain's New Orleans
Clarinet Solos with Rhythm Accompaniment

Back in 1957, Pete Fountain left his New Orleans. He figured he really didn't have a choice - Lawrence Welk, host of the nation's most popular television program, wanted him on the show, and that kind of opportunity comes only once in a lifetime. So Pete Fountain packed up his wife and his three kids and he moved out to California, and for two years he was probably the most famous musician on television, playing the television show, the ballroom sessions, the extended tours with Lawrence Welk and his band. Welk promised Pete that he'd make his name a household word, and he kept that promise - the only problem was, Pete was more interested in playing jazz than he was in getting into the dictionary. So early in 1959, Pete Fountain left The Lawrence Welk Show, and a lot of people at the time wondered if maybe he wasn't just a little bit crazy to give up all that fame and fortune. Obviously, they just didn't understand about New Orleans, and about how playing on a bandstand in a Bourbon Street Club is probably the most important thing in the world. Pete had to go home - whatever the consequences.

As it turned out, Pete had made a pretty good decision. One of the first things that happened to him after leaving Welk was a recording contract with Coral Records, and this is the first album he cut under that contract. Rather than use a full-scale orchestra, Pete and producer Bud Dant decided on a small rhythm group - piano, bass, drums, and Pete's clarinet. The sessions were warm and friendly and informal, and the songs were the kind of jazz standards that Pete had been wanting to play for so long, and the musicians - pianist Stan Wrightsman, bassist Morty Corb, drummer Jack Sperling - were free-wheeling and spontaneous, and Pete Fountain was once again his own man, playing his own kind of music.

Naturally, Pete Fountain is still in New Orleans. It really is his city - on October 26, 1959, they even had a Pete Fountain Day, paying homage to the man who had brought jazz back to its natural home. And these days, Pete has his own club, the French Quarter Inn (on Bourbon Street, of course), and it's the best place in the world to hear him play. But if you can't make it to New Orleans this year, let the city and the music come to you - Pete Fountain's New Orleans.

- Karen Shearer