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Assisted Living Las Vegas
QUESTION: I just ran across this article, which reports that Carl Fontana
is in the early stages of Altheimer's disease. I'll post the
whole article rather than just a link.
It's not hard to find if you use Google to go to the Las Vegas
Sun newspaper website.
Despite Illness, Fontana Still Flashes Legendary Skills
by Las Vegas Sun Columnist Jerry Fink
Carl Fontana is one of the world's greatest trombone players, a
gentle giant in his profession. Usually, as he waits for his part
in a number, he meticulously oils his slide or puts the
instrument on a stand and sits expressionless on a stool, looking
like a musical Buddha -- and to many he is a god.
"At his peak, Carl was one of the top five in the world," said
70-year-old Ed Millar, who hosts a jazz program Wednesdays on
KUNV 91.5-FM. "He doesn't play with the fire he once had, since
Alzheimer's caught up with him, but even on a bad day he plays
better than most good trombonists."
Millar was among the handful of fans listening to Fontana one
recent Thursday evening at the Jazzed Cafe at West Sahara Avenue
and South Durango Drive.
Because of failing health, the 73-year-old Fontana sometimes
becomes disoriented and forgets where he is. He has even
forgotten how to put his beloved trombone together. But once the
slide is in place, as if by magic the legend can still play with
the best of them.
Because of his condition, Fortuna is unable to drive and so
family and friends and fellow musicians pick him up at the
assisted living facility where he resides and escort Fontana
wherever he needs to go.
Fontana performs at the Jazzed Cafe most Thursday nights, and
sometimes he can be found playing Fridays with Irv Kluger's band
at Pogo's on North Decatur Boulevard. Or he may be seen sitting
and listening to jazz at any number of other clubs around Las
Vegas.
He usually performs with Marv Koral and his All-Stars. During his
performance the expression on his face never changes. An
interview is all but impossible -- Fontanta rarely speaks, and
when he does the words are usually "Yes," "No" and "What key?"
"He is the trombonist's trombonist," said UNLV music professor
Ken Hanlon, who is himself a trombone player and for the past 10
years has been piecing together a book about Fontana.
Hanlon last talked to Fontana a month ago.
"His long-term memory is amazing," Hanlon said. "If there's a
tune he doesn't know, I don't know what it is."
Hanlon has interviewed Fontana many times.
"Carl was never talkative," he said. "He's a guy who let his horn
do his talking."
Hanlon said Fontana is different now than he was 10 years ago,
"in terms of facility, not as far as musicality. The man is a
natural. His musical ability will never leave. Carl at 80 percent
is better than 99 percent of all living trombone players.
"You are dealing with a phenomenon. He is so incredible. It might
be possible that Carl Fontana has never made a mistake."
Medical experts say it is not unusual for artists to cling to
their art in such conditions.
"Words and language are things (Alzheimer's victims) forget early
on," said Myra Davis, executive director of the Alzheimer's
Association of Southern Nevada.
Davis described the fading memory as similar to peeling an onion,
layer by layer.
"What happens is ... the latest thing remembered is the first
thing forgetten," she said. "Many times musicians and other
artists, as their memory is ripped away, their artistic ability -
- their music or their art -- ends up being the way they
communicate."
Kluger, who has known Fontana almost 40 years, continues to be
amazed by the way the maestro of the trombone communicates.
"Carl is a monster musician," the 80-year-old Kluger said. "He's
outstanding for his athleticism with the horn, his velocity of
playing is almost supernatural."
Fellow trombonist Brian O'Shea was a teenager living in Scotland
when he first heard Fontana.
"I saw him in Glasgow," O'Shea said. "It was 1957. He was with
the Stan Kenton band. Carl is the guy who influenced me through
the years more than anybody. His sound is different, more mellow
than most trombonists.
"I aspired to be like him. I adopted that kind of playing, not
loud, but very mellow, a smooth liquid sound. He developed the
doodle tongue technique -- using a very soft tongue. He puts the
bell right in the mike and plays very soft, like a whisper."
Everyone is amazed at Fontana's creativity. One of his major
recordings was If I Only Had a Brain, from the movie The Wizard
of Oz. His rendition added a cool feel to a song many fans
considered corny.
And he recorded America the Beautiful with a bossa nova beat,
which many of his admirers say is typical of the way Fontana's
mind works -- or used to work.
Bassist Christopher Gordon has performed with Fontana off and on
for about 12 years.
"I got to play with him when he was as good as he had ever been,"
Gordon said.
But he has watched Fontana's slow decline.
"It really started a couple of years ago, creeping up slowly,"
Gordon said.
He said Fontana had to move into an assisted living facility last
year.
"He hates it. He can't stand it, but he needs to be there,"
Gordon said.
Gordon said his own grandmother suffered from Alzheimer's for
almost 15 years.
"She didn't know who I was, but she could still harmonize the
church music she learned as a child," he said. "Fortunately for
Carl, it looks like music will be the last thing to go.
"He doesn't have the tone or the endurance he had, but his timing
is flawless. It's amazing."
Sometimes, there is a miscue during a song.
"He does repeat himself, occasionally," Gordon said.
But that is a minor problem for a musician of Fontana's stature.
ANSWER: I'm glad to hear that the reports I've heard of him not remembering how to
play his horn at all anymore, were exaggerated.
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