Jazz origins

Our second version is contained in a 1949 recording by Sidney Bechet and his Blue Note Jazzmen. The musicians include Sidney Bechet on soprano saxophone, Wild Bill Davison on cornet, Art Hodes playing piano, Walter Page on bass and Fred Moore laying down the beat on the drums.

According to the textual notes, Sidney Bechet was born in New Orleans in 1897 and was a child prodigy on the clarinet and soon surpassed his teachers and even as a child, he was playing with some of the top bands in New Orleans. At the age of 20, he arrived in Chicago and played with King Oliver and in 1919 he was touring Europe where he was a great sensation. It was in London that he bought his first soprano saxophone. Back in the United States, he began his recording career and worked with Clarence
Williams, Louis Armstrong, Nobel Sissle, and even had a short stint with Duke Ellington. It was in Europe that he achieved his greatest success and where eventually made his home, but he never forgot the New Orleans tradition that nurtured and inspired him. Bechet died in Paris, France, on his 62nd birthday, May 14, 1959.”

From this we know that this recording came late in Bechet’s career (at 52), just ten years before his death. This is a reminder that sidemen did not get recording dates, just band leaders. In this recording, Bechet is playing soprano sax, one of three types of saxophone. Bechet played both the soprano and tenor sax, but the soprano sax gave him the opportunity to replace a clarinet and use his soprano sax in the role of the clarinet, an instrument he played as a youth. (Alto sax was played by Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Carter and Charlie Parker.) Listen at the outset, and you can hear the strong vibrato sound that was Bechet’s trademark sound. You will hear it again clearly later during Bechet’s solo.

As a footnote, one of the joys of collecting records was the off-chance that a big label like RCA would re-issue an original cut on a budget label, like Camden. Today, we have a new way to find and listen to the RCA Masters of Sidney Bechet in his prime. We are going to feature Bechet and one of his best friends, Tommy Ladnier, tomorrow on a special set of posts.