Outstanding Clarinetists in the History of Jazz – Part 7
Pete Fountain – The Forgotten Superstar
A series by József Fritz
August 7, 2023
The next main figure of our series was not originally scheduled to come at this point, but for personal reasons I am bringing him forward.
Recently, a photograph began circulating on the internet showing trumpeter Al Hirt standing next to Pete Fountain, with a caption claiming that the clarinetist in the picture was Acker Bilk. This mistake prompted me – after receiving the image privately from several people who also did not recognize who was in the photo – to present this unjustly underrated and gradually forgotten outstanding musician earlier than planned.
Pete Fountain was born in 1930 in New Orleans, and because we consider him a dixieland musician, it is important to clarify that he was not a figure of the original New Orleans or early dixieland era, but rather a star of the so-called revival period.
His musical career began as the result of an unfortunate circumstance.
His family had emigrated from France to America before the 1800s, settling in the port city of New Orleans. His father worked as a truck driver and was also an amateur musician.
Young Pete began life with very weak lungs, and after many expensive medical treatments failed to help him, a doctor suggested a completely unorthodox method: they should try a wind instrument, which might strengthen his lungs enough for him to survive.
Pete chose the clarinet, and a few years later, when his music teacher asked why he had not studied more, he replied that he played so much that he was already earning $125 a week. His teacher answered that even for him, that would be considered a respectable income.
Young Pete soon became the clarinetist of some of the most sought-after dixieland bands (such as the Dukes of Dixieland), and later met trumpeter Al Hirt, who invited him into his band.
Not long afterward, he was discovered by the famous bandleader Lawrence Welk, who invited him to appear on his television show in Hollywood. Through these TV appearances, he became one of the most celebrated stars in America and was able to return to live in New Orleans.
Since 1959, the city has officially celebrated Pete Fountain Day.
His popularity in America is easy to understand when we consider that he appeared live 56 times on the Saturday night Johnny Carson Show, which, for instrumental music, meant enormous exposure in households across the country. (From personal experience, I can say that even today in America, people often associate the clarinet with Pete Fountain rather than Benny Goodman.)
His recordings were initially released by RCA Victor, and later by the Coral label, with at least four albums per year. Some of these were big band recordings with seven- or eight-piece dixieland ensembles, while others featured smaller groups of four or five musicians, where the influence of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw could clearly be heard.
In addition, he opened his own club, which operated in the Hilton Hotel in New Orleans until the early 2000s.
He retired in 2010, and his final performance was dedicated to the rebuilding of a jazz casino destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
His greatness and acceptance were such that he was regarded as a national figure by the United States, and he was honored with an almost three-day-long traditional funeral in New Orleans Mardi Gras style.
His clarinet playing was refined and highly developed. He was among the first to use an instrument with gold-plated keys and a glass mouthpiece, which he received from the mother of his great role model, Irving Fazola, who remarked that she heard in his playing the sound of her own son.