Sidney Bechet

Jazz Musician

• Born: May 14, 1897
• Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana
• Died: May 14, 1959
• Place of death: Paris, France

American jazz composer, clarinetist, and saxophonist

Bechet was a jazz soloist with an expressive but forceful style, and his interpretations of repertoire from blues to ragtime and jazz to Tin Pan Alley were valued as stylistic benchmarks.

The Life

Sidney Bechet (beh-SHAY) was one of ten children born to Omar and Josephine Michel Bechet in New Orleans’s Seventh Ward. As African American Creoles, the Bechets spoke French at home, and they had aspirations of social advancement, reflected in their love of music. Bechet’s older brother Leonard was active as a trombonist, and he encouraged Bechet, who as a boy surreptitiously learned to play on Leonard’s discarded clarinet.

After acquiring his own instrument, Bechet practiced diligently, although mostly without traditional instruction. Possessing a remarkable ear, he learned by listening to established clarinetists in the New Orleans idiom, such as Lorenzo Tio, Jr., and George Baquet. It was in the playing of Louis “Big Eye” Nelson, however, that Bechet found his inspiration. Nelson was also self-taught, and he played with a more bluesy, vocalized style than did other clarinetists. Bechet later recalled being influenced by music he heard during trips to the New Orleans Opera House and to the circus and from street bands.

Even as a youth, Bechet was considered influential. Clarinetists of his generation—such as Jimmie Noone, Albert Nicholas, and Barney Bigard—recalled being impressed with his development and paying attention to his style. At this time, Bechet began playing cornet, earning renown for his range and volume, although he shortly ceased playing the instrument. By the early 1910’s, Bechet was playing in top-tier bands, and he was a fixture on the musical landscape of New Orleans. He also had developed a reputation for an explosive temper, hedonistic lifestyle, and disregard for authority.

Bechet began traveling in 1916, going first to Texas for a short tour. In 1917 he left home for good, going to Chicago to work with other New Orleans expatriates, including Joe Oliver and Freddie Keppard. By this time, New Orleans-style jazz had become tremendously popular across the country, largely because of the white Original Dixieland Jazz Band recordings and of the vaudeville tours by black groups such as the Creole Jazz Band. Bechet steadfastly refused to learn to read music, but his improvisational abilities were recognized, and he never wanted for work.

In June, 1919, Bechet was engaged by Will Marion Cook to go to England with his Southern Syncopated Orchestra. This large group, which played little jazz, was more along the lines of a pops orchestra. Following the breakup of the group in 1920, Bechet performed with a small band called the Jazz Kings. It was during this period that he bought his first soprano saxophone, although in New Orleans he had apparently experimented with a C-melody saxophone owned by a friend. Other than a short trip to Paris in 1921, Bechet remained in London until he was convicted of assault in November, 1922, and he was deported back to New York.

Once in New York, Bechet was almost immediately engaged to play and to act in a black stage show called How Come?, with which he toured until April, 1923. Several other shows followed, suggesting Bechet was valued for his acting as well as his musical abilities. It was during this time that he began making recordings, mostly produced by New Orleans pianist Clarence Williams.

In September, 1925, Bechet sailed for Paris with the Revue Negre, and later he went to Russia, where he remained until May, 1926. Following this was an extended period of travel around Europe as a soloist. In Paris, Bechet again ran afoul of the law, and he was jailed after a gun battle in December, 1928. He stayed in prison for a year, moving to Berlin in December, 1929, to play and to appear in several films.

By the end of 1930, Bechet was back in New York, featured with Noble Sissle and His Orchestra. Sissle used him as a soloist on clarinet and soprano saxophone and as a member of the rhythm section, playing bass saxophone. In early 1932, Bechet decided to strike out on his own, and he played numerous freelance jobs throughout the New York area, including several weeks featured with Duke Ellington, before forming a sextet with former Sissle trumpeter Tommy Ladnier. Calling themselves the New Orleans Feetwarmers, they played for a few months and made several recordings before the lack of work and the realization that their New Orleans-styled music was out of fashion compelled them to disband. For an unsuccessful period the two ran a tailoring establishment, but Bechet returned to Sissle’s band in May, 1934.

Bechet remained with Sissle until October, 1938, before deciding to become a leader himself. After a series of short engagements, he freelanced on numerous recordings, and he performed at various establishments in the New York and the Philadelphia area for the rest of the decade.

The 1940’s represented more freelancing around New York, but often Bechet was called on to be a guest soloist with other bands. Bandleader Eddie Condon thought highly of him, using him frequently on his radio and early television broadcasts. Bechet was also a regular visitor to jazz clubs in both Philadelphia and Boston, and his efforts are well preserved by location recordings.

By the late 1940’s, Bechet was looking beyond New York. In November, 1947, he began a long engagement as featured artist at Jazz Ltd. in Chicago, extending with some interruptions through January, 1949. He made a brief trip to Paris that May, and he resolved to return permanently. In this last phase of his career, Bechet found almost universal adulation among European jazz fans. Except for a few short visits to America in 1950 and 1951, he remained in Europe until his death, playing and recording as often as he wished.

Bechet’s musical influence is his recorded legacy, which began in the 1920’s. These early works announced his abilities to the public, and they served as influences for many musicians who were not able to hear him in person. While he had some success composing songs such as “Ghost of the Blues” and “Pleasure Mad,” it was the application of his improvisational abilities to popular tunes of the day, blues, and jazz standards that gained him attention. The same was true in the 1930’s and 1940’s when he recorded frequently under his own name and as a sideman with various leaders. Although he recorded compositions of his own, such as “When the Sun Sets Down South” and “Blackstick” (and occasionally took credit for work composed by others), it was in his recordings for Blue Note (of Dixieland repertoire) and for Victor (of jazz tunes) from the 1920’s that he became known.

After Bechet repatriated to France, he began featuring his own compositions more. Works such as “Les Oignons” and “Si tu vois ma mere” are tributes to the jazz style of his early years. During this time Bechet also experimented with composing longer forms. La Colline du Delta was a rhapsody for soprano sax and orchestra left incomplete at his death, and La Nuit est une sorcière was a ballet score that Bechet recorded featuring himself.

The Music

“Wild Cat Blues.”Bechet’s first appearance on record was “Wild Cat Blues,” on Clarence Williams’s Blue Five. From the first note, Bechet’s passionate soprano dominates the record, pushing the cornet and the trombone into the background. While not containing any formal solo passages, this recording features numerous two-bar breaks, which Bechet carries off with a rhythmic security and flair for the dramatic usually associated with Louis Armstrong on his later pieces, such as “Cornet Chop Suey.” This recording was made exactly one year before Armstrong appeared in New York to nationalize his reputation playing with Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra.

“Maple Leaf Rag.”“Maple Leaf Rag” probably began as a reminder of the repertoire Bechet had played in New Orleans in his youth. Eventually, it became an expression of his volcanic power with his soprano, again overwhelming the other members of the front line. Except for a short piano solo, the performance is driven by Bechet, culminating in a long, pulsating high note over an ensemble riff.

“Characteristic Blues.”Of the many recordings Bechet made during his time with Sissle, “Characteristic Blues” is the closest example of straight-ahead jazz. Accompanied by only the rhythm section, Bechet (on clarinet) produces a passionate blues statement. Beginning at a languid tempo, the performance ends with Bechet quoting from the traditional “High Society” clarinet solo as the arrangement moves into double-time for the final chorus.

“Summertime.”Although not released under his name, “Summertime” is one of Bechet’s most famous recordings. The George Gershwin tune had previously been recorded by others, but here it found its definitive version. Bechet had been playing the number for some time, evolving a series of soprano variations that he featured for the rest of his life. His approach is both melodic and harmonic, the latter suggesting what Coleman Hawkins supposedly pioneered with his record of “Body and Soul” of nine months later. “Summertime” also marks the beginning of his association with Blue Note, which would continue for the next fourteen years.

“Egyptian Fantasy.”Although credited to Bechet, this number was in fact “Egyptia,” an Abe Olman tune featured by the Creole Jazz Band as early as 1914. Well adapted to Bechet’s affection for exotic themes, “Egyptian Fantasy” features his low-register clarinet at its most atmospheric. This recording is representative of the higher degree of organization generally to be found on his Victor series, which ran concurrently with his Blue Note output in 1940 and 1941.

Musical Legacy

Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet, who heard Bechet with the Southern Syncopated Orchestra in 1919, called him a “clarinet virtuoso” who “composed perfectly formed blues on the clarinet.” It was through the blues that Bechet initially came to music, although his natural lyricism marked him as a melodist first and foremost. Numerous strands of influence combined within him to create, with Armstrong, the first prototype of the jazz soloist. During the 1920’s, Bechet’s influence on musicians was largely confined to New York. While he undoubtedly had his admirers in Europe, his circle there was limited, and so were his opportunities to play jazz. His American recordings and personal appearances advanced his fame, and so did his personal reputation. Ellington was generous in praising Bechet for helping to develop the “jungle” style of his early band, with which he played briefly in 1925. It was perhaps only his combative nature and his lack of reading ability (a key to playing popular music at the time) that kept Bechet’s influence from being as pervasive as that of Armstrong.

Nevertheless, Bechet maintained a remarkable degree of consistency over the course of his career. He never ceased trying new techniques, new instruments, new repertoire, and new musical associates. His voice on clarinet and especially soprano saxophone was intensely personal, demonstrating a highly vocalized tone with a completely individual concept of sound and vibrato. Bechet’s playing was imitated by scores of musicians, though his originality was not easily reproduced.

Principal Recordings

albums:Port of Harlem Jazzmen, 1939; Bechet, Bunk,and Boston, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 1, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 2, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 3, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 4, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 5, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 6, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 7, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 8, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 9, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 10, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 11, 1945; Jazz Nocturne, Vol. 12, 1945; Masters of Jazz, Vol. 4, 1945; Giants of Jazz, 1949; We Dig Dixieland, 1949; Sidney Bechet’s Blue Note Jazzmen, 1950; Days Beyond Recall, 1951; The Fabulous Sidney Bechet and His Hot Six, 1951; His Way, 1951; Sidney Bechet, Vol. 1, 1951; Sidney Bechet, Vol. 2, 1951; Immortal Performances, 1952; New Orleans Style, Old and New, 1952; Sidney BechetSolos, 1952; Sidney Bechet, 1952; Wally Bishop’s Orchestra, 1952; Dixie by the Famous Sidney Bechet, 1953; Jazz at Storyville, 1953; New Orleans Feetwarmers, 1954; Jazz á la Creole, 1955; King of the Soprano Saxophone, 1955; La Nuit est une sorcière, 1955; Back to Memphis, 1956; Creole Reeds, 1956; Grand Master of the Soprano Sax and Clarinet, 1956; Sidney Bechet Duets, 1956; Sidney Bechet with Sammy Price’s Bluesicians, 1956; When a Soprano Meets a Piano, 1957; Young Ideas, 1957; Sammy Price and Sidney Bechet in Paris, 1958; The Fabulous Sidney Bechet, 1958; Parisian Encounter, 1958; Sidney Bechet and Friends, 1972; Perdido Street Blues, 2002; Sidney Bechet et Claude Luter, 2007.

Bibliography

Bechet, Sidney. Treat It Gentle: Sidney Bechet, an Autobiography. New York: Da Capo Press, 1978. While this is a highly entertaining and anecdotal account of his life, this book is also self-serving and somewhat unreliable on dates and chronology.

Chilton, John. Sidney Bechet: The Wizard of Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. This source is meticulously researched and presented. The early chapters are the most important contribution, while the post-1930’s sections are overly dependent on recordings.

Lyttleton, Humphrey. The Best of Jazz: Basin Street to Harlem. New York: Penguin Books, 1980. The chapter devoted to Bechet is restricted to the 1920’s, but it is valuable for its perspective from another performing jazz musician.

Williams, Martin. Jazz Masters of New Orleans. New York: Da Capo Press, 1979. The chapter on Bechet is a thorough examination of his career, with six pages being a transcribed interview with his student, Bob Wilber.