Pete Fountain

Among the most celebrated New Orleans jazz clarinetists, Pete Fountain possessed an uncommon knack for infusing tunes he had performed innumerable times, such as "Basin Street Blues," with fresh vitality that suggested he was encountering them for the first time. His approach and core repertoire stayed consistent from the late 1950s through the new millennium, yet he never conveyed any sense of repetition or fatigue. Heavily shaped by Benny Goodman and Irving Fazola, Fountain joined the Junior Dixieland Band in 1948, then spent time with Phil Zito before forming a key partnership with the Basin Street Six from 1950 to 1954, during which he cut his initial sides. He became a member of the Dukes of Dixieland in 1955, but his major break arrived through regular appearances on The Lawrence Welk Show from 1957 to 1959, where he performed one or two Dixieland selections per episode. Upon departing the program, he returned to New Orleans, launched his own venue, and maintained a steady performance schedule there until stepping away from club operations in early 2003. His strongest work came through an extended series of Coral sessions spanning 1959 to 1965, after which the material grew more commercial. Fountain passed away in New Orleans during August 2016 at the age of 86.