Decca Cavalcade Of Stars - Decca Records

Decca Cavalcade Of Stars
Various Artists featuring Pete Fountain

1964 Decca Records DL 34289 (Mono) DL 734289 (Stereo)

Side 1
Pete Fountain - Hello, Dolly!
Bing Crosby - When I Take My Sugar To Tea
Brenda Lee - All Alone Am I
Guy Lombardo - Oh, You Beautiful Doll
Red Foley - Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Ethel Smith - Tico - Tico

Side 2
Leroy Anderson - Blue Tango
Al Jolson - Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye
Carmen Cavallaro - Polonaise (Chopin)
Loretta Lynn - Before I'm Over You
The Weavers - Goodnight Irene
Bert Kaempfert - Red Roses For A Blue Lady

Liner Notes:
Decca various artists LP featuring Pete Fountain.

All-Time Hits On The "IN" Side - Decca Records

All-Time Hits On The "IN" Side

Various Artists featuring Pete Fountain

1965 Decca Records DL 34469 (Mono) DL 734469 (Stereo)

Side One
1. Hello, Dolly! - Pete Fountain
2. Tammy - Debbie Reynolds
3. Mr. Sandman - The Four Aces
4. Sentimental Journey - Les Brown
5. That Old Black Magic - Judy Garland

Side Two
1. Lover - Peggy Lee
2. You Always Hurt The One You Love - The Mills Brothers
3. I'm Sorry - Brenda Lee
4. Heartaches - Ted Weems
5. When The Saints Go Marching In - Louis Armstrong

Liner Notes:

Here Is An Album of ten "IN" songs. Any current fad that is accepted by the masses is considered "IN," but what's "IN" today might very well be passe tomorrow. Surfboards and sports cars - miniskirts and mods - long haired boys and short haired girls - these are considered "IN" today. Who knows what new fads will replace these tomorrow ! That's what's different about the songs on this record, as well as the artists who perform them. They have a special, lasting appeal and when you play this record, say five years from now, it will be just as "IN" then as it is now.

For openers, we begin with the title song from one of Broadway's all-time box office smash musical comedies, "Hello, Dolly!" This rendition by clarinetist Pete Fountain gives an even greater dimension to the song that has become everybody's favorite. Motion picture actress and singer, Debbie Reynolds, reached the apex of her recording career, with her never-to-be-forgotten version of "Tammy," which still has a fresh and charming appeal for people of all ages. "Mr. Sandman," by The Four Aces, is one of the best examples of the perfect marriage between a great song and performance. The definitive version of "Sentimental Journey" is reprised hereby the artist who has used this song as a theme during his long and successful career as a bandleader, Les Brown. "That Old Black Magic," certainly one of the best known and most beloved standards, is sung by one of the best known and most beloved singers, Judy Garland.

Of all the many recorded versions of "Lover," there is little doubt that the one by Peggy Lee is the most imitated and most remembered. The marvelous Mills Brothers are included on this record, singing "You Always Hurt The One You Love," which did as much for their long and outstanding career as any song they ever recorded. The diminutive Brenda Lee is also represented with "I'm Sorry," the recording that sold over one million copies and earned her a gold record, her first. The orchestra of the late Ted Weems, featuring the whistling of Elmo Tanner, gives out with the memorable "Heartaches." The popularity of this recording has surpassed all barriers of time and still remains one of the most consistent best sellers. Finally, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong is heard once more, with his rousing and spirited recording of "When The Saints Go Marching In," a fitting end to this memorable album of ALL-TIME HITS ON THE "IN" SIDE.

Alive In New Orleans - First American Records

Pete Fountain

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:

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

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

Note: Same as LP 1977 First American Records FA-7706 Alive In New Orleans ond CD 1998 - Alive in New Orleans Laserlight 17 181 Delta Music Records

PETE FOUNTAIN
The clarinet is a musical magic wand all black and silver, sleek and elegant, emitting a round sound that has pleased the ears from the time of Egyptians to Mozart to modern New Orleans style music. The New Orleans clarinet style has been an influence in jazz and popular music since the earliest days of marching bands and jazz groups. George Gershwin recognized the spellbinding power of the clarinet when he gave it the opening lines of "Rhapsody in Blue," one of America's finest pieces of music. The clarinet is two instruments in one. The lower register, known as the chalumeau, yields the warm, deep tone, whereas the upper register emits the shrilling, high notes that are very exciting and very "Dixie" in jazz.

Pete Fountain hails from the heart of Dixieland, New Orleans. He was born in the French Quarter in 1930 and it was there that he learned to play the music he loves. He learned to play the clarinet from his father who could play almost any musical instrument by ear, especially the fiddle. As unlikely as it may sound, Pete had serious lung problems when he was young and he also had a keen interest in music by the age of nine. Because of his many medical bills it wasn't possible for his father to purchase a musical instrument for him until the day a doctor prescribed that a musical instrument be bought and that Pete be made to play so that his lungs would become strong. That was a happy day for Pete Fountain. After a few lessons in school and hours of listening to the records of Benny Goodman he was on his way to becoming a jazz musician and a great improvisor, even though his teachers didn't appreciate his improvisations.

In 1950 he formed "The Basin Street Six," a strictly Dixie jazz band. Unfortunately, Dixie was not popular in 1950, dance music was, so the band had to concede to play a little dance music to keep their job. As fate would have it, a representative from a television station heard the show and wanted the band to play Dixie, as he thought it should be revived and telecast live from the restaurant. It caught on and band's success convinced Fountain that he could make a living from his music.

The biggest break in his career came after a particularly fallow period in 1956 when Lawrence Welk called and asked him to make a guest appearance on the biggest musical show in television history. This invitation changed the course of Fountain's life. After a few years of being a Hollywood television star, his homesickness for New Orleans overwhelmed him and he quit the Lawrence Welk show to return to the heartland of his music and the source of his inspiration.

Back in New Orleans he founded a hot spot called French Quarter Inn in the Spring of 196o where people gathered, with reservations booked far in advance, to hear Pete Fountain's band really cook. So crank up the Victrola and take a walk down Bourbon Street to the tunes of Pete Fountain!

- REBECCA CELEBREZZE

Pete Fountain and The New Orleans All Stars - Design 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 Pete Fountain.

Side One
1. South Rampart Street Parade (Pete Fountain)
2. Sensation Rag (Pete Fountain)
3. Jazz Me Blues (Pete Fountain)
4. Bugle Call Rag (Pete Fountain)

Side Two
1. Sunset in Paradise (New Orleans All Stars)
2. In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree (New Orleans All Stars)
3. Bayou Blues (New Orleans All Stars)
4. St. James Infirmary (New Orleans All Stars)
5. When the Saints Go Marching In (New Orleans All Stars)

Blog Update!

Summer News

Hello fellow Pete Fountain fans. If you have been wondering why nothing has been added recently, it's been a busy summer at work, my computer that has the flatbed scanner is down (bad motherboard), so with all this I haven't had much time to devote to the blog. Will be back at full speed in a few weeks.

Pete Fountain By Justin Forbes

Pete Fountain By Justin Forbes

Circa 1990's New Orleans Painting - Pete Fountain By Justin Forbes

Down On Rampart Street - Music Trax Records

Down On Rampart Street

2007 Music Trax Records SEII - 9123

CD Listing
1. St. James Infirmary Blues
2. Up A Lazy River
3. Jazz Me Blues
4. Mumbo Gumbo
5. Margie
6. That's A Plenty
7. When The Saints Go Marching In
8. High Society
9. Moanin' Low
10. South Rampart Street Parade

Liner Notes:

Somewhat difficult to find CD, a collection of Pete's early work. This is a reissue of the same CD on 1996 Classic Sounds Inc. Records CSI-7785.