Irving Fazola (December 10, 1912 – March 20, 1949) was a great American jazz clarinetist particularly skilled at counterpoint and playing the blues.
Fazola or Faz was born in New Orleans, Louisiana as
Irving Henry
Prestopnik. Little is known about his father. He was raised by his
mother, Camille (maiden name unknown). A few lessons on piano made no
impression, but after buying a saxophone and later a clarinet, Fazola became
immersed in music and showed a capacity for learning and a talent entirely
lacking in his formal education. He studied mainly with Santo Giuffre, as well
as with Jean Paquay, the leading teachers of white clarinetists in New Orleans
at the time. Paquay had come to New
Orleans in 1909 to play in the orchestra at the French Opera House.
Particularly skilled at counterpoint and playing the
blues, Irving Fazola began to study C melody sax and clarinet at 13. Influenced
early on by Leon Roppolo, who Fazola continued to idolize throughout his life,
Fazola was playing professionally by age 15.
A graduate of Warren Easton High School in New Orleans,
he played with some of the best bands in the country, including Bob Crosby,
Phil Harris, Horace Heidt, Gus Arnheim, Claude Thornhill and Teddy Powell.
When the touring Ben Pollack band came through New
Orleans in 1935 Fazola joined the band and toured the country and played
residencies in New York City and Chicago with them. After brief stints with Gus
Arnheim, Glenn Miller and time back in New Orleans he joined the Bob Crosby
band in 1938. His work with Crosby brought him national fame.
In 1939 and 1940,
he was rated the No. 1 clarinetist in the nation. In 1940 and 1941, he won the
Down Beat poll for "Best Jazz Clarinetist," beating out superstars
Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw.
After leaving Crosby's band in 1940, he alternated
between playing with various groups in New York, Chicago, and New Orleans
(including a stint with George Brunies at the Famous Door). After seven years
away, Faz returned in poor health to New Orleans in 1942.
While some of his
fellow musicians urged Fazola that greater fame and fortune awaited him in the
big cities up north, Fazola said he was more comfortable in his home town with
its wonderful food (which he ate in great quantities, becoming ever more
obese). According to Pete Fountain, for whom Fazola was one of his two foremost
idols, Faz also drank heavily, which contributed to his weight and his early
death.
In New Orleans Faz had a radio show on WWL, sometimes led
his own band, and worked with bandleaders Tony Almerico and Louis Prima.
Faz ola died of a heart attack at home in New Orleans in
1949 at the age of 36 on the evening he was to lead the "Dixieland
Jamboree" at the French Quarter's Parisian Room. Members of his local jazz
band were pallbearers at his funeral.
New Orleans jazz
musician Pete Fountain gives much credit to Irving Fazola for his wonderful
clarinet sound. When Fountain took up the clarinet as a young man, he spent
many hours listening to recordings of Faz's music. And when Pete Fountain
himself attended Warren Easton and joined the band, he told people that he had
learned how to play from Irving Fazola. Fountain sat in for Faz at the Opera
House the night Faz died, specifically requested because he played like Faz.
Fountain's estate continues to hold Faz's clarinet, but Fountain said that the odour
of garlic that comes from the horn when it warms up makes it virtually
impossible to play even after having been reconditioned by the factory.
It is an Albert System clarinet, on which the fingers are
stretched out more than on the Boehm system clarinet that Fountain played. The
distinctive woody (or "fat") Fountain sound, however, comes from the
crystal mouthpiece he played with since 1949, his first having been Fazola's
own, given to him along with the clarinet by Fazola’s mother after Faz's death,
because she had heard him play and noted how he played like her son. Pete
played crystal mouthpieces ever after.
(Edited from Wikipedia & K. Jacob Ruppert)
1 comment:
For “Irving Fazola - My Inspiration - His 26 Finest 1936-1946” go here:
https://www.upload.ee/files/10830811/Irving_Fazola.rar.html
Irving Fazola (clarinet) with various bands.
1 –Ben Pollack And His Orchestra Song Of The Islands
2 –The Dean & His Kids* Jimtown Blues
3 –The Rhythm Wreckers Alice Blue Gown
4 –Seger Ellis And His Choirs Of Brass Orchestra Shivery Stomp
5 –The Musical Maniacs Down By The Old Mill Stream
6 –The Rhythm Maniacs Pagan Love Song
7 –Glenn Miller And His Orchestra Humoresque
8 –Bob Crosby And His Orchestra My Inspiration
9 –Bob Crosby And His Orchestra The Skater's Waltz (In Swingtime)
10 –Bob Crosby And The Bob Cats Hindustan
11 –Bob Crosby And The Bob Cats Mournin' Blues
12 –Jess Stacy Orchestra Breeze (Blow My Baby Back To Me)
13 –Jess Stacy Orchestra Clarinet Blues
14 –Bob Crosby And The Bob Cats Spain
15 –Bob Crosby And His Orchestra Sympathy
16 –Bob Crosby And His Orchestra Speakeasy
17 –Muggsy Spanier And His Orchestra Can't We Be Friends?
18 –Muggsy Spanier And His Ragtimers Hesitating Blues
19 –Irving Fazola And His Dixielanders* Ostrich Walk
20 –Irving Fazola And His Dixielanders* Bluein' The Blues
21 –Irving Fazola And His Dixielanders* Someday, Sweetheart
22 –Irving Fazola And His Dixielanders* Sweet Lorraine
23 –Irving Fazola And His Dixielanders* Mostly Faz
24 –Irving Fazola And His Dixielanders* Jazz Me Blues
25 –Irving Fazola And His Dixielanders* Farewell Blues
This CD spotlights the artistry of one of the greatest of all jazz clarinettists, Irving Fazola - the best white clarinet player from New Orleans.
The great clarinettist Irving Prestopnick (1912-1949) became Fazola or simply “Faz”. With his graceful phrasing and warm, liquid tone, he could only have come from New Orleans. This huge man, with his essentially melodic style owing something to Jimmie Noone, was the last in the line of New Orleans clarinet players, making a valuable contribution within the Swing Era. “My Inspiration” showcases his artistry with a 26-track distillation of the best of his tragically brief career – excess killed him at the age of only 36.
The survey begins with rare sides recorded with Ben Pollack groups, Sharkey Bonano, Seger Ellis, The Musical Maniacs and Glenn Miller during 1936/7. He went on to become a Bob Crosby star soloist during 1938/40 with whom his mellow-toned jazz classics included My Inspiration, Spain and Skaters’ Waltz. In addition there were memorable recordings with Jess Stacy (Breeze) and Muggsy Spanier (the wonderfully flowing Hesitating Blues etc.). The story ends with seven 1945/6 tracks with his own Dixielanders, including his delightfully wistful Sweet Lorraine, Mostly Faz and the classic Jazz Me Blues. In the words of Digby Fairweather: “With a sound like honey and a virtuoso’s technique, Irving Fazola was arguably the finest clarinettist to emerge in the swing era”.
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