Sidney Bechet

Sidney Bechet. , Panel 2 , Sidney Bechet may have been the first New Orleans jazz musician to go beyond the early ensemble format into solo improvisation. He established a reputation as a child prodigy working his way through the best dance bands in town. In 1916 he went to Texas with Clarence Williams, then rode the vaudeville circuit to Chicago. Two years later he was on his way to Europe with the Southern Syncopated Orchestra. He returned to New York in 1922 recording with the Blue Five and Louis Armstrong. In 1925 he went back to France with La Revue Negre. He then worked in Germany and the Soviet Union before joining Noble Sissle's orchestra back in New York in 1930. His career as a leader began in 1932 with the New Orleans Feetwarmers, but for most of the 1930s work was scarce. John Hammond revived the Feetwarmers for a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938. Bechet's hit recording of "Summertime” for Blue Note and a contract with RCA followed which included his famed “one man band” records. Sessions with Muggsy Spanier, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, and other jazz stars became frequent, but during the New Orleans revival Bechet resisted becoming a relic. His chance to break out came in 1949 when Robert Delauney put him up against Charlie Parker at the first Paris Jazz Festival. Sidney won the audience and it won him: two years later he relocated to France where he lived as a national hero, enjoying the benefits of celebrity and family life. Today Sidney Bechet is remembered as a jazz pioneer whose influence was truly international., Panel 3 , While in London, Bechet attracted the attention of Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet, who described hi as "an artist of genius, who follows his own way"., Panel 4 , Bechet achieved a distinctive instrumental voice that was unique and unmistakable. He broke with the Creole code of formal musical training to embrace what was happening on the streets, following the "play by ear" approach of Buddy Bolden and clarinetist "Big Eye" Louis Nelson Delisle.