Clarinetist Pete Fountain dead at 86

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Clarinetist Pete Fountain, whose Dixieland jazz virtuosity and irrepressible wit endeared him to his native New Orleans and earned him decades of national television fame, died Saturday of heart failure. He was 86.
Benny Harrell, Fountain’s son-in-law and manager, said Fountain was in hospice care in New Orleans when he died early Saturday.
With his ready wit and infectious laugh, Fountain was the epitome of the New Orleanian who knew how to “let the good tim