Sidney Bechet

Jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer Sidney Bechet was born on May 14, 1897 in New Orleans. Bechet's father Omar was both a shoemaker and a flute player, and all four of his brothers were musicians as well.

He began playing his brother's clarinet at the age of 6 playing at a family birthday party.

Bechet studied clarinet in New Orleans with Lorenzo Tio, Big Eye Louis Nelson, and George Baquet and he developed so quickly that as a child he was soon playing with some of the top bands in the city.

Bechet's primary instruments were the clarinet and the soprano saxophone.

During a 1919-20 tour of Europe with a concert group, Bechet became the first jazz musician to receive critical attention.

He was one of the first important soloists in jazz (beating Louis Armstrong to the recording studio by several months). Bechet recorded "Wild Cat Blues" and "Kansas City Man Blues". "Wild Cat Blues" is in a multi-thematic ragtime tradition, with four themes, at sixteen bars each, and "Kansas City Man Blues" is a genuine 12-bar blues.

He was with Duke Ellington's early orchestra for a period.

Bechet and Josephine Baker were part of the Revue Nègre, which toured in Europe in 1925. Bechet toured Europe with multiple bands, reaching as far as the Soviet Union in mid-1926

Sidney Bechet in 1922

After being found guilty of assaulting a woman, Bechet was imprisoned in London from September 13 to 26, 1922. He was jailed again in Paris in the late 1920s when a female passer-by was wounded during a shoot-out. After serving time in prison, Bechet was deported to the United States.

After a lean couple of decades, Sidney Bechet's fortunes changed drastically in 1949. He was invited to the Salle Pleyel Jazz Festival in Paris, caused a sensation, and decided to move permanently overseas

In 1953, he signed a recording contract with French Vogue, which lasted for the rest of his life. He recorded many hit tunes, including the international hit "Petite Fleur."

Bechet died in Garches, near Paris, of lung cancer on May 14, 1959 on his 62nd birthday. He is buried in a local cemetery.

Source Allmusic