Dixieland

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Back in late 1974, John Shoup, a television producer for PBS and later The Discovery Channel who has also managed and produced many artists, flew out to Las Vegas to meet with musician/singer Louis Prima at Prima’s golf course. Shoup wanted Prima’s permission to take over his lease at the Monteleone Hotel’s rooftop nightclub in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Two months later, on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1974, Shoup opened “Dukes’ Place” atop the Monteleone. It featured the home of the newest ensemble of The DUKES of Dixieland, with Connie Jones as leader.

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Peter Dewey Fountain, Jr. was born July 3, 1930 in New Orleans, the cradle of American music, Jazz. He was a skinny kid who spent too much time hanging around the front stoop of the Top Hat Dance Hall near his home. The Top Hat was a stronghold of Dixieland Jazz and Jazz already had a strong hold on Pete Fountain. But, oh the sounds! This was music straight from the soul. Sounds that would never be written in stone, that would always be brand new because they were purely personal. Pete heard all the greats in New Orleans and he knew he wanted to play Jazz.