Fountain's clarinet work is noted for his sweet fluid tone. He has recorded over 100 LPs and CDs under his own name, some in the Dixieland style, many others with only peripheral relevance to any type of jazz.
Touch of Class album by Pete Fountain was released Nov 04, 1997 on the Ranwood label. Touch of Class CD music contains a single disc with 18 songs, a lot of swing with a great clarinettist.
In 1957, the bop was a "Hot teen-age dance". Ray Conniff had been making waves with his new style of music for a couple of years. It's too bad that "DANCE TO THE BOP" didn't make it big when it was first released by COLUMBIA RECORDS, but this re-issue is better than I remember. This swingin' collection is still very danceable and it's obvious that Conniff got his inspiration from Country, Rock'n Roll and Rhythm and blues of the era. Ray's trombone is heard throughout the arrangements and he can be heard (on a couple of cuts) singing with his own playing. This effect produced a new and fascinating tonal color for the era that is still very vivid today. This CD also included Conniff "En Espanol". This album was recorded in Mexico in 1966. It's fun to hear "Days Of Wine And Roses" in Spanish. What sells this CD are the first 12 cuts. I recommend this CD highly to anyone that loved the early Conniff sound.
- By Ken Rogers-
Back by popular demand, The Toscanini Collection is a reissue of RCA's 1992 compendium that encompassed all of the recordings Toscanini made with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and NBC Symphony. A new addition to this amazing collection is his approved recordings with the BBC Symphony from the 1930s that were not included in the 1992 edition.
Rosenberg's musical language in this dreamplay of reaching out for the unattainable is tugged between the poles of Sibelian cool and warm Gallic impressionism. As an opera this is not another Pelléas. It is far too mercurial and word-responsive for that. If anything it has subject connections with other operas: Korngold’s Die Kathrin (CPO) and Schreker’s Die Ferne Klang (Naxos and Capriccio). It occupies a surreal littoral between Puccinian verismo and modernistic objectivity; neither one nor the other……Most warmly recommended.Rob Barnett @ Musicweb-international.com