What Johnny Carson Taught Me About Music

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When I returned home from my golf weekend I saw a notice that Pete Fountain, the legendary New Orleans jazz clarinet player, had died. That got me to thinking about how I even knew his name, given that I'm not much on jazz and didn't ever live in or near New Orleans. Then it dawned on me. Johnny Carson. After thinking about it, I realize that Johnny Carson taught me a lot about music that I would never ever have otherwise seen or heard. First, for you youngsters, Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show before Jay Leno. Secondly, there was a stigma associated with rock "back then." Most of the music that was featured on network shows was either pop (or "easy listening), jazz, classical, or occasional country music. The Beatles and Elvis were exceptions to the rule, but that "wild demon rock and roll" didn't find its way onto late-night TV for a long time. (You can thank Johnny Cash for that stigma breaking down, because he had no problems putting Dylan and CCR on his "country" network show.) Given the latter issue, you weren't going to see rock on Carson. I was too young to know that at the time when I could first stay up late enough to actually see Carson's monologue (back then, his show was 90 minutes instead of an hour) and his list of guests; or, rarely, even a music act. But I was not too young to be paying attention. The Tonight Show is where I first saw Pete Fountain's extraordinary clarinet playing. I also saw Buddy Rich on the show countless times. I remember Anthony Newly (and being scared by his Bigfoot-sized eyebrows ) singing. I remember Sinatra and Dean Martin (who, of course, also had his own network show). Yes, there were other acts. There was a legendary exchange between Carson and Homer & Jethro the first time they appeared on The Tonight Show. Thinking they were just "hillbillies," he challenged them to play something serious and they launched into "Autumn Leaves." Carson, stunned by their musicianship, asked, "How long have you been playing that?" Homer's reply: "Oh, about two and a half minutes." But that shows the nature of music on The Tonight Show when I was growing up. It was considered a more "high-brow" type of music as opposed to rock. And because of that, I know how much the music world lost with the death of Pete Fountain. Thank you, Johnny Carson. Here's the late Pete Fountain on Carson's show: