finetune artist: Pete Fountain

b. 3 July 1930, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Taking up the clarinet as a small boy, Fountain was sufficiently adept to play and record before he was out of his teens. In the early 50s he worked with various bands in his home-town, including the Basin Street Six. In 1954 he formed his own small band and for the next couple of years played with this group and with the Dukes Of Dixieland. In the later years of the decade he appeared as featured soloist on Lawrence Welk's networked show. Regular performances with Al Hirt ensured that he remained in demand, both in New Orleans and in the vastly different atmosphere of Las Vegas. Fountain's ability transcends the formulaic limitations of some post-revival dixieland. Although he has long been musically associated with this area of jazz, his consummate skills might more accurately place him in the mainstream. Nevertheless, he has chosen to remain in a field which has proved to be enormously popular and commercially successful and has thus, inevitably, met with critical displeasure and disregard.

Listen to Pete Fountain at Finetune.

(2007) Best Of Pete Fountain
(2001) Pete Fountain Presents The Best Of Dixieland: Pete Fountain
(1999) Dixieland Classics Volume 1
(1998) The Very Best of Pete Fountain
(1997) Basin Street Blues
(1997) Mr. New Orleans
(1997) New Orleans All-Stars
(1996) Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
(1995) A Touch Of Class
(1993) Pete Fountain's New Orleans
(1992) High Society
(1990) Swingin' Blues

Up the Lazy River
Basin Street Blues
Closer Walk With Thee
Amazing Grace
Saint James Infirmary