Pete Fountain and his Half Fast Walking Club at Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 2010. Pete Fountain, the goateed clarinetist who became a global ambassador of New Orleans jazz with his flawlessly slippery technique and joyful sound, died Saturday of heart failure while in hospice care in New Orleans. He often said he tried to blend “the King of Swing” Goodman’s formidable clarinet technique with a mellower sound favored by New Orleans clarinetist Irving Fazola. Another New Orleans clarinetist, George Lewis, also was one of Fountain’s early role models. He was a fixture at the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and many festival-goers felt their pilgrimage to the Crescent City was incomplete until they heard Fountain play.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 06, 2016 19:13 UTC