Live at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
Pete Fountain * clarinet
Godfrey Hirsh * vibes
Stan Wrightsman * piano
Morty Cobb * bass
Jack Sperling * drums
Tiger Rag
After You've Gone
Tin Roof Blues
Stomp Mr. Henry Lee
Up a Lazy River
Avalon
A Closer Walk With Thee
Hindustan
Around the time of his return to New Orleans, Pete Fountain recorded at least four live albums that should be in every jazz clarinetist's collection: Pete Fountain Day (October 26, 1959), Pete Fountain Live at the Bateau Lounge (1960), Live in Santa Monica (1961), and Pete's Place (1965). Of the four, three were released soon after they were recorded, as part of Pete's extremely fertile period with Coral Records, while as far as I can tell the date at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium finally came to the surface via Hindsight records in 1998.
This album is a true gem--it represents Pete's playing at that seminal time of his career, when he put out masterful album after masterful album for Coral, demonstrating an almost Mozartian perfection for lines and balance, fusing New Orleans style with swing and west coast cool in a way no one had before (and no one has managed quite as beautifully since). As Pete put it, quoted in Fred Hall's liner notes for this Hindsight album "My style is a cross between New Orleans and swing. My two clarinet players that I really liked when I was growing up were Irving Fazola and Benny Goodman and I used to listen to George Lewis, who was pure New Orleans."
This disc was a reunion of sorts with the men he gigged with during his Los Angeles years (although many of them also appeared on the New Orleans dates released by Coral). The sound is more brash than the Coral releases--it's much rougher quality and in some ways feels more like a 'real gig', which I appreciate, as it gives us another angle on the classic Fountain sound.
The solos represented here are all pretty much instant classics. 'Tiger Rag', which leads off this set, is closely related to his soloing on this tune from other dates, but drives purely and vigorously. 'After You've Gone' resists the temptation (too often yielded to these days) to turn the number into a technique-fest of flash. Pete and the boys favor a medium up tempo rather than blazing faster than Goodman, leaving room for soul, sound, and good home cooking.
One of several high points in the album is the 4 minute 46 second masterpiece that is 'Tin Roof Blues.' Jack Sperling's swung triplet blues pattern on drums and Stan Wrightsman's piano soul set the table for Pete's slow, unfolding blues--one of the finest captured on record, in my opinion. Like Bechet on 'Blue Horizon', Pete begins in the chalumeau and patiently climbs, singing sweetly, letting the band push, then pushing himself, the discussion between the musicians leading to an full, insistent, even piercing altissimo climax that perfectly utilizes the unique expressive power of the clarinet. This is one of those recordings that truly demonstrates the capacity of clarinet among other blues instruments.
The rest of the album is vintage Fountain, perfect for anyone who loves that golden era of Pete's playing. His soloing on 'Up a Lazy River'--both slowly in the altissimo, then uptempo) is among the finest, a tribute to the composer, Sidney Arodin (the CD somewhat mistakenly credits lyricists Hoagy Charmichael and Johnny Mercer with the tune, leaving out the New Orleans clarinetist who wrote the music!) 'Avalon' is also presented in a unique style--not blazing like the Goodman quartet, but plenty of homecooking and soul, with a stunningly melodic solo by Sperling as the centerpiece. There are many live versions of Pete playing 'A Closer Walk With Thee': add this one to the collection.
'Hindustan' is perhaps the most formally interesting of all the tunes, featuring a duo conversation between the virtuosic Sperling and Fountain--Sperling making use of his tuned tom-toms to dialogue with Pete. Particularly interesting is Fountain's subtlety of approach--he once again eschews flashy displays of technique, though his playing is at a level of virtuosity throughout. In other words, he is supremely virtuosic without flashing it. His concern was apparently always for the musical material rather than empty display--a precedent worthy of imitation, and needed these days. Jack and Pete begin the tune together with an extended dialogue, the band joins them, then they begin the long decrescendo as the caravan leaves town, so to speak, ending as they began: a poignant tête-à-tête between drum and clarinet.
This album, as much as any other, demonstrates the vitality and growth of trad jazz styles into the 1960s and beyond, at a paradoxical time in the music's history. While the cultural gatekeepers in major magazines and, increasingly, academia, ignored this music, it was simultaneously more successful with the general public than many of the more critically praised 'modern' jazz world. Perhaps now, twenty years after its first release in 1998, and over half a century since it was performed, we can recognize it for what it surely is: one of the great live jazz albums of any era.
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| From my collection, sent to me shortly before Pete passed away. (Eric Seddon Collection) |
