Legendary New Orleans musician, Bourbon Street club owner, and ambassador for the city Pete Fountain turns 84 years old today.
Photo by Elsa Hahne.
Born Pierre Dewey LaFontaine, Jr., on July 3, 1930 in New Orleans, he changed his name to Pete Fountain before he began playing clarinet professionally.
While he doesn’t perform these days, Fountain’s presence remains as vibrant as ever wherever New Orleans jazz is performed live.
“I think the most important thing Pete passed down is the fat sound. That’s the New Orleans sound. Fazola had it. Johnny Dodds had it. Jimmie Noone. That’s what I got from Pete was the fat sound to fill up the horn, the big sound,” Fellow clarinetist Tim Laughlin said of Fountain’s impact in a May 2010 article on Fountain’s “Fat Sound” by David Kunian.
You can read more about Fountain’s remarkable life and accomplishments in John Swenson’s in-depth April 2011 article, “A Half-Fast Walk With Pete Fountain.”
