Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Alive In New Orleans - First American Records

Alive In New Orleans



1977 First American Records FA-7706 Stereo



Side One
1. The Jazz Me Blues
2. Stranger On The Shore
3. Little Girl
4. When Your Lover Has Gone

Side Two
1. Struttin' With Some Barbeque
2. Georgia On My Mind
3. Diane
4. Margie
5. Indiana

Line Notes:

Recorded At Studio In The Country, Bogalusa, Louisiana.
Produced By Pete Fountain And Bill Evans.
Engineered By Bill Evans.

Personnel:
Pete Fountain - Clarinet
Eddie Miller - Tenor Sax
Jack Delaney - Trombone
Jim Duggan - Trombone
Mike Serpas - Trumpet
Earl Vuiovich - Piano
Oliver Felix - Bass
Charlie Lodice - Drums

Also released with a different cover LP 1977 First American Records FA-7706 Stereo and CD 1998 - Alive in New Orleans Laserlight 17 181 Delta Music Records

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

The Early Years - Music Masters

Pete Fountain TV Special - The Early Years


1970 Music Masters MM GS 1012-1013

Side One
1. Bugle Call Rag
2. Silver Dollar Blues
3. Moanin' Low
4. Sensation Rag
5. Jazz Me Blues
6. That's A Plenty
7. Margie
8. Up A Lazy River
9. Mahogany Hall Stomp

Side Two
1. South Rampart Street Parade
2. St. James Infirmary Blues
3. When The Saints Go Marching In
4. Creole Cookin'
5. Mumbo Gumbo
6. High Society
7. The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
8. Lonesome Trails
9. Farewell Blues

Liner Notes:

Pete Fountain TV Special - The Early Years

Project Co-ordination by Vince J. Rundus
Released by Music Masters, ltd. Charlotte, N.C. 28211
Future Sound Marketing Distributors For Albums, Tapes, Films 1-800-251-3550

I couldn't locate any real information on this LP. It's billed as a TV Special, not a special (as in an Elvis TV special) as in a TV show that Pete performed in, but as an album offered on TV, featuring his Early Years. The cover is a golden textured foil like material, with a drawing of Pete by artist Terri Lee. There are no credits or liner notes. It's a real budget offering. It is a collection of material, early Pete, some live, all in surprisingly good listening quality. Pete wails very nicely and the trumpet player is really good. (It's not Hirt or Frank Assunto, sounds like George Girard) In fact, I compared the tracks and they are from the Basin Street Six sessions. To get 18 tracks on a vinyl LP is rare, so it would be considered a good value. I couldn't find anything about Music Masters Ltd or Future Sound Marketing, so who knows the legitimacy of this recording, if royalties were paid or if it was approved by Pete Fountain. 10 of these tracks appear on the CD Down On Rampart Street, 1993 Quicksilver Label (now out of print) If anyone has information on this compilation, please leave a comment.

Monday, March 5, 2007

Pete Fountain and The New Orleans All Stars - Pickwick Records

Pete Fountain and The New Orleans All Stars




1962 Pickwick International Design Label SDLP-182

A budget-label collection split between Dixieland legend Pete Fountain and the New Orleans All Stars. Side one features a live track from Fountain.

Side One
1. South Rampart Street Parade (Pete Fountain)
2. Sensation Rag (Pete Fountain)
3. Sunset in Paradise (New Orleans All Stars)
4. In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree (New Orleans All Stars)
5. Bayou Blues (New Orleans All Stars)


Side Two
1. Jazz Me Blues (Pete Fountain)
2. Bugle Call Rag (Pete Fountain)
3. St. James Infirmary (New Orleans All Stars)
4. When the Saints Go Marching In (New Orleans All Stars)

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Pete Fountain - Pickwick Records

Pete Fountain


1966 Pickwick Records SPC-3024 Stereo / PC-3024 Mono

Side One
1. Sidewalks Of New York
2. Hindustan
3. Till We Meet Again
4. Shine

Side Two
1. Jazz Me Blues
2. South Rampart St. Parade
3. Sensation Rag
4. Bugle Call Rag

Liner Notes:

Pete Fountain is the licorice stick man. The licorice stick, as any child well knows, is long, thin and black and full of aroma and flavor. That description also happens to fit Pete's clarinet, the tastiest reed exported from Louisiana since the discovery of cane sugar.

Pete's earliest idol was Irving Fazola, one of the great dixieland artists who swarmed around New Orleans a few decades ago. Since the age of 10, when he began studying music, Pete Fountain earnestly set about developing the deep feeling and the velvet sounds which float out of the french horn. Pete learned his lessons well and matured into a superlative instrumentalist with a style that both swings and sings.
As a young man, Pete played in all the top spots in the New Orleans French Quarter. The turning point in his career came in 1957 when he traveled to Los Angeles for a concert date and was heard by Lawrence Welk, Jr., a devotee of dixieland music. Pete was persuaded to join Welk's entertainment troupe in which his clarinet emerged as one of the most popular features.

Pete's soul, however, stayed on Bourbon Street. After two years with Welk, Pete returned to Dixieland's native habitat, New Orleans, where he has remained ever since. In New Orleans, Pete is to the clarinet what Al Hirt is to the trumpet. Both have beards, both have their own musical combos and both have their own night clubs in town; and Pete, like Al and all the other great jazzmen who have made New Orleans the capital of dixieland, brings great joy and spirit to the vast chorus of American music.

HERMAN SCHOENFELD
Music Editor of Variety

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Live Performances in New Orleans - Pickwick Records

Live Performances in New Orleans
Pete Fountain and The All Star Dixielanders



1962 Pickwick Records CAS-727 Stereo / CA-727 Mono

Same as Pete Fountain and Other All-Star Dixielanders Live Performances in New Orleans Camden Records CAS-727(e) Stereo / CA-727 Mono

Side One
1. When the Saints Go Marching In
2. High Society
3. Farewell Blues
4. Darktown Strutters' Ball
5. Ballin' the Jack

Side Two
1. 'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
2. Muskrat Ramble
3. 12th Street Rag
4. Tin Roof Blues
5. Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey

Liner Notes:

Pete Fountain and The All-Star Dixielanders
A&R Coordinator: Ethel Gabriel

Authentic Dixie by the "Stylists Who Made the Style"

Jazz may have come up the river from New Orleans, as the musical bromide has it, but lots of it remained behind, too, and is still flourishing there. Even though jazz, and especially the Dixieland style of jazz, has fallen into the musical melting pots of Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, San Francisco and New York, New Orleans has remained the daddy of 'em all.

There's something about New Orleans that keeps its music and its musicians continually vigorous and vital, and the city has remained a potent jumping-off point for happy musical adventures. This, despite the changes in form and pattern that have been taking place in the over all jazz scene through the past couple of decades. Also, New Orleans has continued to be one of the most fertile cities in the country for bringing new musicians to the fore. It is no accident that men like Pete Fountain and Tony Almerico have blossomed after exposure in New Orleans.

Although many words have been written about New Orleans' contribution to America's musical history, few have been able to capture the essence as well as an actual performance. This album is such a performance - and what a performance. "Live - from New Orleans" should be enough of a catch phrase to intrigue any musical buff. But there's more to this album than that. For here we have the stylists who made the style. Fore-most among them, perhaps, is Pete Fountain who has done so much to spread the Dixieland gospel around the country in the past few years. A clarinetist who can stand with the all-time greats, he has the mellow and lyrical tone that has become identified with the New Orleans clarinet style. And there is Tony Almerico, a trumpeter-singer who has upheld the New Orleans tradition for many years.

Working along with Pete Fountain and Tony Almerico are such Dixieland luminaries as trumpeter George Girard, trombonist Jack Delaney, clarinetist Harry Shields, tenor sax man Lester Bouchon, pianist Roy Zimmerman, and many others of equal stature.

There is a line in the popular New Orleans' song Basin Street which says that it's the place where old friends meet. You'll meet most of them here, playing away to their delight as well as yours.

MIKE GROSS
Music Editor, Variety

Friday, March 2, 2007

High Society - Pickwick Records

High Society



1972 Pickwick Records SPC-3201 Stereo / PC-3201 Mono

Side One
1. High Society
2. That's A Plenty
3. The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
4. Margie

Side Two
1. Up A Lazy River
2. Mahogany Hall Stomp
3. I'm Goin' Home
4. Farewell Blues

Liner Notes:

It's funny how words come to have different meanings. For example, when you're a kid, licorice means long, chewy, black candy. When you grow up, licorice means low, moaning, mellow clarinet music. And if you're a fan of really good clarinet music, licorice means Pete Fountain.

There's an effortless quality to the way Pete licks his licorice stick. Folks got to like it back when he stood out in the Lawrence Welk crowd and they continued to like it, to love it, when Pete started making records.

The tunes on this album are comfortable ditties that are either from the twenties or sound as if they should be. They have that lazy, zesty feel that music had when jazz was just getting started, when musicians were just beginning to dandle songs on their instruments as if they were babies on their knees.

The jazz babies here include "Margie," "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise," "I'm Going Home," "Farewell Blues" and the album title tune, "High Society."


Pete Fountain lifts that licorice to his lips and lets these sweet, sweet melodies float through the air with the greatest of ease.

Why not catch them?