Pete Fountain At the Bateau Lounge * Coral Records (CRL 757314) * 1960

Side A

Deep River
My Melancholy Baby
I've Found a New Baby
Mack the Knife
Creole Gumbo
You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me

Side B

Londonderry Air
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
After You've Gone
Gin Mill Blues
Little Rock Getaway
Blue Lou

• Pete Fountain * Clarinet
• Merle Koch * Piano
• Don Bagley * Bass
• Jack Sperling * Drums
• 
  

Recorded Live at Dan's Bateau Lounge, Bourbon and Toulouse Streets

It's difficult to imagine any current musician releasing albums at the prolific rate of Pete Fountain in 1960. After the rapid succession of Pete Fountain's New Orleans, The Blues, and Pete Fountain Day, the clarinetist newly liberated from the world of Lawrence Welk and commercial music fired off his first small club live recording with Pete Fountain At The Bateau Lounge -- an astonishing fourth album in five months. Like the others in this series of Coral records, Pete is in top shape, partially because of the intense work schedule he was maintaining since returning to New Orleans. At the Bateau lounge he and the band were performing four shows a night, six nights a week, and the tightness of the ensemble show the value of that work.

Leading off the set is the traditional spiritual, 'Deep River', which had been recorded multiple times in the popular song adaptation version entitled 'Dear Old Southland' by Sidney Bechet. Contrasting Bechet's broad and heartfelt rhapsodizing, Pete ratchets up the tempo, sizzling with exuberance. While the choice of title was probably related to multiple factors, the symbolism serves to highlight the lyrics of the African-American spiritual: 

Deep river,
My home is over Jordan.
Deep river, Lord.
I want to cross over into campground.

Oh, don't you want to go,
To the Gospel feast;
That Promised Land,
Where all is peace?

The subject of homecoming--including ultimate spiritual homecoming--is therefore symbolically represented. And with Pete's crew, that means a pretty happening party.

This 'Melancholy Baby' is one of Pete's finest, and once again we hear why Pete's clarinet and Jack Sperling's drumming were so well matched. As usual when those two were in the same band, the rest of the group work around that central dialogue, Koch and Bagley gently murmuring responses.

'I've Found a New Baby', another stalwart Fountain show piece, is presented with polish, verve, and inspiration--the crowd appreciating everyone, and the intensity of the live date coming through. Sperling's drum solo, replete with double bass drums, is a high point, providing Pete with a launching pad for the ride out.

Aside from the standards on the album, we're treated to an original called "Creole Gumbo" credited to Fountain, Koch, and Bud Dant (arranger for many of Pete's big band, orchestral, and even small group numbers). It's a riff tune reminiscent in some ways of 'Struttin' With Some Bar-B-Cue' or any number of Benny Goodman sextet tunes like 'Seven Come Eleven' or 'Air Mail Special', but with a particularly Fountainesque flavor. The band obviously enjoys it, with Jack Sperling contributing a chorus of melodic drum soloing.

While I love all the cuts on this album, three from Side B stand out in particular to me. 'Londonderry Air' (Danny Boy) is the first--a medium uptempo version of the classic Irish Ballad, proving once again that anything lyrical is fit for the style of Fountain. The next is 'Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen.' Pete's take is intimate, reverent, but resolute. In the tradition of New Orleans clarinet that runs from Irving Fazola through Pete, there is a sweetness of sound he is able to get, matched by few others, while still retaining depth of statement. As a jazz clarinetist who in many ways specializes in Trad/NOLA style, I'm always less than impressed if the only means a player has to express depth is by becoming more extroverted. Contrasting  Pete with those whose style demands an overwrought approach is instructive: he has a far wider expressive palette, generated primarily from his tone, his attacks, and his phrasing. This is sometimes paradoxically lost on many modern jazz musicians and academics, but never on the public. And in fact, these things are perhaps even more important musical concerns for a professional than any amount of obscure harmonic analysis or rationalizing. 

'Gin Mill Blues' is my other favorite, simply because any time Pete plays a blues, I'll be listening.

This album is one of those that doesn't really transport the listener back in time, at least not me, simply because the music making sounds so valid today. It's perfect nightclub music--exuberant, relaxing, refined, intelligent, confiding, and heartfelt. Along with the others of this era that Pete cut, it's one of the finest live albums of jazz clarinet on record, perhaps the finest in a small club atmosphere. This band would outstrip most current jazz groups for professional nuance, emotion, and depth.

To my knowledge, as of this writing, while some of the tracks may have been remastered and released on compilation albums, I don't think it has ever been reissued as an entire album. My hope is that it will be soon, along with all of the early Coral masterpieces.

Autographed Portrait of Pete Fountain
(Eric Seddon Collection)

 

Pete Fountain's New Orleans * Coral Records (CRL 757282) * 1959

Side A 

While We Danced the Mardi Gras
A Closer Walk With Thee
When the Saints Go Marching In
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Ol'  Man River
Cotton Fields

Side B

Sweethearts on Parade
Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans
Basin Street Blues
Lazy River
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
Tin Roof Blues

Pete Fountain * Clarinet
Stan Wrightsman * Piano
Morty Corb * Bass
Jack Sperling * Drums


Recorded in Los Angeles after leaving Lawrence Welk's show over artistic differences, Pete Fountain's New Orleans constitutes an opening statement of sorts, just prior to his return to the Crescent City. His first under a new deal with Coral records, this album lays down mature (for some even definitive) versions of twelve standards he was to reference and develop for the rest of his career. Unlike many of his early Coral albums--too often underappreciated classics in desperate need of reissue--this album has been continuously in print for nearly seventy years, the sound remaining remarkably fresh and timeless.

The tune selection was, for the time, a mix of old and new. Songs like 'Ol' Man River' and 'While We Danced the Mardi Gras', while already firmly established, were still relatively recent additions to the repertoire. The others were venerable New Orleans songs and hymns of diverse backgrounds and associations. 'When It's Sleepy Time Down South' was Louis Armstrong's theme song for many years,  'A Closer Walk With Thee' was deeply associated with George Lewis, becoming synonymous with Pete as a result of this album, and from there a legacy to all jazz clarinetists (those interested can even hear my version on our live album).  'Tin Roof Blues' will always be linked to many New Orleans clarinetists, but most especially with Leon Roppolo; likewise 'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans' with Jimmie Noone. 'Lazy River' is a tune from the all but forgotten New Orleans clarinetist, Sidney Arodin. Significantly absent are regular numbers from Pete's repertoire associated with clarinetists outside of New Orleans--no 'Avalon', 'After You've Gone', 'Shine', or others which might bring Benny Goodman to mind, for example. In short, this album, so unified in concept and delivery, is a tour through a master clarinetist's view of New Orleans.

For Pete personally, the album was seminal:

The first album was a milestone. [...] Back to that first recording session. It was beautiful. The simplicity and ease of not having to worry about what somebody else thought of every note was fantastic. I was on my own and I could play what I felt like playing.(Fountain 158)

The tunes were worked out in studio--'head arrangements' decided upon mostly by the musicians, though producer Bud Dant contributed some into and outro music. The Dant-Fountain collaboration was to prove fruitful for many years to come, both in small and large group settings, over the course of many discs.

Though I haven't bothered to look into the album's commercial success, as of the publication of Pete's autobiography in 1972, Pete Fountain's New Orleans had gone multi-platinum and, having been reissued in every available format since, has undoubtedly continued to sell. Part of the reason for this must be the timeless quality of the playing. The players aren't self consciously trad in approach--this isn't New Orleans revival style of any era. Instead, it's a creative fusion of New Orleans, swing, and west coast cool that seems to have a permanent place in American musical aesthetic. In fact, it's far less dated sounding than many 'classic' modern albums of the same era--a tribute to the musicians and recording engineers.

Those who are students or fans of Pete Fountain's playing will undoubtedly know other versions of every tune, perhaps even preferring different takes. Maybe the unbridled creativity of Pete's playing of 'Tin Roof Blues' live in Santa Monica two years later strikes some listeners as his best, or various versions of 'The Saints.' In many ways, though, this album was the blueprint for all subsequent performances. Here, with simplicity, beauty and significant flashes of that fire he was known for, Pete gave a unified vision of his own style. It reminds me of another album from the same era: Sonny Rollins's Saxophone Colossus. Both albums are summas of a sort, while simultaneously a fresh start--pivot chords in both men's careers. The albums have a perfection of balance that seem to pull the listener through--once started, you can't help but listen to the entire thing, in one refreshing session. Both were to be expanded upon for decades afterwardss, and both utilized that remarkably balanced ensemble, the jazz quartet.

This is Pete's love letter to New Orleans--the one where he told them to leave the light on for him, cuz he was coming home. The music shines as brightly today as it did in 1959.



Further reading:

Fountain, Pete and Neely, Bill. A Closer Walk: The Pete Fountain Story. Regnery: Chicago (1972). 


     

Autograph inscription in a copy of Pete Fountain's 1972 Autobiography,
A Closer Walk: The Pete Fountain Story. (Eric Seddon Collection) 

Pete Fountain Day * Coral Records (CRL 57313) * October 23, 1959

Recorded Live in New Orleans Municipal Auditorium October 23rd (or 26th or 29th) 1959

Side A

I Got Rhythm

Ja-Da

China Boy (Go Sleep)

Avalon

Shine

Side B

Tiger Rag

Don't Be That Way

Poor Butterfly

Someday Sweetheart

'S Wonderful

Pete Fountain * clarinet

Godfrey Hirsch * vibes

Merle Koch * piano

Don Bagley * bass

Jack Sperling * drums

The first of a series of live recordings from Pete Fountain's Coral Records period, this album is unique. It documents and celebrates the return of Pete Fountain to New Orleans after his year of national success on the Lawrence Welk show in Los Angeles. Although he was to speak with gratitude of Welk for the rest of his career, for the exposure and the break, Pete never liked working for the show. The cameras and pressure made him a nervous wreck, he didn't get enough playing time for real jazz, and he was stifled creatively by Welk. In his own words, he "finally cracked" after the 1958 holiday special, when Welk called his jazz phrasing of Silver Bells "sacrilegious." Pete pointed out it wasn't even a religious song, but was further chastised for messing with Welk's arrangement. This was the final straw: realizing he wasn't happy playing Welk's music, and that he was homesick for New Orleans, he took the risk of quitting. The gigging scene was bleak in the Crescent City, especially for a top paid performer with a national audience and young family to provide for, but when Welk asked him what he would do in New Orleans, Fountain answered, "I don't know. But I'm going back home even if I have to play for strippers as Faz did." (Fountain, 155-56).

Shortly after this became public knowledge, Charles "Bud" Dant, an A&R man for Coral Records stepped in and offered Pete a contract. A five year deal was inked that became the foundation for some of Pete's most important albums, including Pete Fountain Day, which was not the first they did (that was the studio album Pete Fountain's New Orleans, followed quickly by The Blues, which featured Big Band arrangements by Dant--both of which were recorded in Los Angeles before his return). Pete Fountain Day, however, was perhaps the most symbolically significant.

Pete Fountain Day LP (Eric Seddon Collection)

Pete quickly lined up a steady gig at the Bateau Lounge in the French Quarter after his return, moved the family to Annunciation Street (Fountain, 165), and was content to ply his trade. In a rare moment of exposure and a appreciation for a jazz musician, however, New Orleans Mayor Vic Schiro had something more in mind--an idea that might tie Fountain's return to a tourist marketing scheme for the city. He declared October 23, 1959 "Pete Fountain Day" and offered a concert at New Orleans Municipal Auditorium. [Note regarding the actual date of "Pete Fountain Day": Pete's autobiography lists it as October 23rd. The liner notes to the Coral album, however, mention it twice--once as October 26th, the other October 29th!]

"I will never forget that day," Pete was to write in his autobiography, years later. "It was the highest honor I have ever received." (Fountain 165-66).
  
Coral Records decided to record it and release a live album. The result, aside from its significance historically to the history of jazz in general and the New Orleans scene specifically, is one of the finest live albums any jazz clarinetist has produced.

The liner notes to the album, mostly written by Sim Meyers (then Amusements Editor and Music Critic for the New Orleans Times-Picayune), with a summary on the back by Burt Korall, (then Co-Editor of The Jazz Word), stress the sweep of New Orleans musical history, from the opening of the first resident opera company in America there in 1796 through the years of slavery, Civil War, emancipation, the distressed economic and social condition of freed African Americans and the birth of jazz, all the way up to 1959. The notes suggest that Pete's concert represented a final consummation of high culture, symbolized by the opera house, and native culture, symbolized by jazz. Other historians have presented other narratives, and perhaps don't view Pete Fountain Day with the same level of significance, but it's worth noting that for many this was a truly symbolic day in the history of music.

Interior Liner Notes to Pete Fountain Day (Eric Seddon Collection)

Our understanding of history is always growing, always changing as we learn more and, hopefully, as we grow in honesty about ourselves. While knowing other perspectives, I personally found these notes heartening, and gladly add them to the record of important opinions concerning the history of jazz. But all of that aside, what makes this album essential beyond its historical context, nearly seven decades later, are the exceptional performances of the repertoire. 

I won't go into depth on the individual tracks, except to say that this version of "China Boy (Go Sleep)", has been reissued on various compilation discs over the years, and for good reason. It might be the greatest version of the tune recorded by a clarinetist, or anyone for that matter--and I say that with the classic takes of Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet, and many others squarely in mind. The rapport between Pete and Jack Sperling on drums, particularly, borders on telepathic, and solidifies the two as a tandem to be considered along the lines of Goodman & Krupa, or Artie Shaw & Buddy Rich. All of the other cuts are vintage Pete Fountain, with top notch Coral recording sound. To my knowledge, as of this writing, the album has not been fully remastered, nor has it been reissued. Why, I'm not sure: there are various internet rumors, which I won't bother with here. My advice is to buy one of the LP copies still floating around the internet. Its importance and brilliance are worth the effort.   

Looking back at that moment in 1959, it's perhaps worth noting that not many jazz musicians, if any, have made the decision to return as Pete Fountain did. He continued making TV appearances, most notably on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, entirely to promotional purposes--to keep audience interest in his New Orleans nightclub. Pete still hated being on TV, and it always made him a nervous wreck to do these spots. Yet partially because of them, he remains a solitary figure in the history of the music: one who hit it so big that he was for a brief period synonymous with "jazz" to a large portion of the American public, yet who returned to New Orleans permanently.    

Back Cover: Pete Fountain Day LP (Eric Seddon Collection)

Further reading:

Fountain, Pete and Neely, Bill. A Closer Walk: The Pete Fountain Story. Regnery: Chicago (1972).

CD Review: Pete Fountain Live in Santa Monica * March 16, 1961 * Hindsight Records HCD-617

March 16, 1961
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.

From my collection, sent to me shortly before Pete passed away.
(Eric Seddon Collection)

Bob Wallis' Storyville Jazz Men: Everybody Loves Saturday Night * Top Rank International * 1960

Le Reve Passe

Down Home Rag

Old Stack-O-Lee Blues

Everybody Loves Saturday Night

I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen

Alla Turka

Savoy Blues

Where Shall I Be

Kansas City Man Blues

Captain Morgan

Sons of the Brave

L'Oiseau Bleu

• Trumpet – Bob Wallis
• Clarinet – Doug Richford
• Trombone – Avo Avison
• Banjo – Hugh Rainey
• Bass – Drag Kirby
• Drums – Kenny Buckner
• Percussion – Pete Gresham

I love this album, unconditionally and beyond rationale. There are very few like it for me: it shares a corner of my musical soul with very few others; among them Acker Bilk's The Seven Ages of Acker and Sidney Bechet's recordings with Ernie Caceres. In other words, for me it's beyond criticism, or really discussing in any technical sense. Somehow, a young Bob Wallis managed to get beautifully colored sound and soul from this group of very raucous players. This is not refined jazz, nor is it intellectual--it's rough, loud, rowdy, visceral, and at times very basic. But the tone of each player, the enthusiasm, and the depth of joy has rarely been matched. Everything they touch turns to gold--even the cheesy, nearly cringe-worthy opening quote of Mozart in "Alla Turka", which is redeemed into a winking nod by the subsequent impassioned outcries of Doug Richford's clarinet and driving, sinister riffing in the brass.  Some of the standards, particularly "Old Stack-O-Lee Blues" and "Kansas City Man Blues" are among the finest versions recorded--blunt, strong, obvious, original, they stare you down like a gunfighter and make for some of the best, most straightforward utterances in the Trad Jazz canon.  

An American jazz clarinetist can live a lifetime without hearing the name of Doug Richford, and that's a crying shame, because this album, while a small sample size, is enough to recommend. His playing, while not technically dazzling, is inspired and extremely soulful. Speaking personally, when I first stumbled across this record a few years ago, I thought I'd listen to it once or twice and then put it away in the archives for reference, but I found Richford's clarinet addictive. Soon I was recommending other musicians listen to his solos on "Alla Turka" and the finale of the album, the beautiful clarinet feature "L'Oiseau Bleu." The whole album has become a steady part of my listening diet.  

Central to the band, of course, is the charismatic trumpet and voice of Bob Wallis. Like so many of the great British Trad cornet and trumpet players, Wallis is a pleasure to listen to, with a balanced, golden sound--and his drive as a player and leader yields an exceptionally balanced result, with a band identity that never lets up. Some Trad bands can sound like grab bags stylistically, but not Wallis's Storyville Jazz Men. Whether utilizing Caribbean-tinged beats or gutbucket blues, the same drive and personality dominates. 

Don't expect genteel introspection from this set, but get it for the soul. For clarinetists, the solos by Doug Richford are certainly not to be missed.  

Scott Yanow on Bootlegs from the Bop Stop

"Seddon, who has a large tone and extroverted style on clarinet...dominates the music, playing with infectious spirit and creativity within the classic format. His songs, which include a tribute to the late Acker Bilk ("Goodbye Bowler Hat"), are natural fits for New Orleans jazz bands..."

Scott Yanow, from a review in The Syncopated Times, July 21018

CDs of the new album can be ordered here (shipping to USA only).

Eric Seddon's Hot Club: Bootlegs from the Bop Stop CD now available for order in the USA!

We're happy to announce the release of our new CD--Eric Seddon's Hot Club: Bootlegs from the Bop Stop! The album features four traditionals spiritual and six originals by me, including my tribute to the late Acker Bilk, 'Goodbye, Bowler Hat.'

This disc documents the band's 2017 Historical Jazz Clarinet Concert Series at one of Cleveland's most important jazz clubs. The Bop Stop is renowned for its stellar sound and discerning jazz audiences. We were grateful to play a six concert 'Trad Jazz Invasion' last Fall, and some of the bootlegs that came out of it (from the acoustic perspective of the audience rather than multi-tracked and mixed) were so energetic and typical of our live shows we wanted to release them as an album. On a personal note, I wanted my first album to represent reality--each tune a single take, capturing real sound, including any rawness or roughness to the playing. This isn't airbrushed, but the real thing--natural music. I hope you like it as much as we enjoyed making it. 

You can order your copy of the album from my website--click here and scroll down to the album, where you'll find the information. Note: we only ship within the USA.