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"When the boys and I played the big cities during the Big Band years, I'd head for the local jazz clubs as soon as we had finished our show for the evening. "I've always loved this kind of music," he explains. His eyes sparkle, his toes tap, he beams widely as he bounces around in his chair, totally unable to sit still. It's the first record he plays for visitors to his office, and when the strains of "China Boy" - his particular favorite - fill the room, Lawrence is, as he says, in heaven. This is a record that explodes with an exciting, irresistible, driving, purely joyous Dixieland beat that makes you want to grab a horn and join in! They're all stars, and they prove it from the opening track of "China Boy" - which Fountain wraps up and takes home with his awe-inspiring smooth and velvety phrasing - to the all-out closer when everybody cuts loose on "Strike Up The Band".
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He was featured with the famed Glenn Miller band for years." And of course, Clyde Hurley was one of the all-time greats on jazz trumpet. "George Van Epps is a master of the guitar, and both Bill Schaefer and "Moe" Schneider are brilliant slide-trombone men - "Moe" played with many of the great Dixieland bands, including Ben Pollack and Bob Crosby. "We used to call Stan the last of the really great two-handed piano players," recalls George Thow, whose jazz trumpet is featured on Side Two in "Tea 'n Trumpets." Thow, who played in the original Dorsey Brothers band, before joining the Welk group, is now on the production staff of the television show, and he regards his fellow players on this album as absolutely tops. Fountain, who played clarinet for the Welk band before opening his own jazz club in New Orleans, is backed by equally superlative musicians: Nick Fatool, on drums, often called "the human metronome" by his fellow musicians Phil "The Chief" Stephens on bass, and Stan Wrightsman on piano. Those are legendary names, a roll-card of the giants of Dixieland jazz, and they're all here on this album which has become a classic of its kind - and the personal favorite of Lawrence Welk. Pete Fountain, Nick Fatool, Stan Wrightsman, Phil Stephens, George Van Epps, George Thow, Clyde Hurley, Bill Schaefer, Elmer "Moe" Schneider. Originally released 1958 on Coral Records CRL 57146 Mono / CRL 757146 Stereo, currently available on CD Dixieland Lawrence Welk and Pete Fountain - Ranwood RecordsĪ Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Teleklew Productions, Inc.