The vastly popular clarinetist and New Orleans stalwart Pete Fountain recorded this album just after the end of his hugely popular two-year stint on Lawrence Welk's Sunday-evening television show. He quit to return to more jazz-based playing. This 1959 quartet album, with Stan Wrightsman on piano, followed Welk's show, with The Blues just behind--and they were both nationwide hits. Long before, Fountain had soaked up the life of New Orleans, the steamy cradle of jazz. The tunes here are evergeens for the first days of jazz associated with New Orleans greats, particularly Louis Armstrong. With unmistakable tone, richness, and poise in his clarinet playing, Fountain enlivens tunes that in lesser hands would encourage hackneyed rehash, with piercing attack, swagger, and clever, fresh arrangements. --Peter Monaghan
