Pete Fountain & His Half-Fast Walking Club

The year is 1960 and John F. Kennedy is president, going to the moon is still a dream and the Vietnam War is nothing but a minor skirmish with a few American "technical advisors." It's also the year that clarinet virtuoso Pete Fountain starts walking the walk that became known as the "Half-Fast Marching Club."

"It was my wife that named us that first year, " Fountain recalls, "She looked around and said, 'Well, if this isn't a half-a...