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Pete Fountain
The Best of Dixieland
VERVE 549 365-2
Crotchet  £8.99 AmazonUK £7.99

1. Mahogany Hall stomp
2. Tin roof Blues
3. My Inspiration
4. Bye-Bye Bill Bailey
5. High Society
6. Struttin' with some Barbecue
7. Dixie Jubilee
8. South Rampart St. Parade
9. Put on Your Old grey Bonnet
10. The Second Line
11. Basin St. Blues
12. The Darktown Strutters' Ball
13. Marching Round the Mountain
14. Over the Waves
15. Careless Love
16. Walking through New Orleans
17. Sugar Bowl Parade
18. Farewell blues
19. Washington and Lee Swing
20. Walking Through New Orleans

This CD represents the work of a number of Bands in which Pete Fountain has been featured on the clarinet. As well as his own Mardi Gras Strutters, there is also the Basin Street Six and Santo and his Dixieland Jazz Band represented here. It does not make a great deal of difference however, as the bands sound remarkably similar! The recordings were made between 1950 and 1963 and were selected by Pete Fountain to represent his work over that period.

Pete is a fine dixieland clarinet player, who is not afraid to quote Benny Goodman as a source of inspiration; that shows in his playing which always swings and again in the rhythm sections he selects for his band. Pete hails from New Orleans and is steeped in jazz tradition, he has an excellent clarinet technique and a nice warm sound on the instrument.

The music selected is mostly from the classic dixieland library and the one or two exceptions are made to sound like they belong anyway!

For lovers of Traditional Jazz, this album is a must and to someone like myself with perhaps a slightly more modern jazz perspective, an album that was fun to listen to, which sounded like the musicians were enjoying it too!

Don Mather