Sidney Joseph Bechet (May 14,
1897 – May 14, 1959) was a jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was
one of the first important soloists in jazz, beating trumpeter Louis Armstrong
to the recording studio by several months. His erratic temperament hampered his
career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim
In 1919, Ernest Ansermet, a Swiss
conductor of classical music, wrote a tribute to Bechet, one of the earliest
(if not the first) to a jazz musician from the field of classical music,
linking Bechet's music with that of Bach.
Bechet played a jazz musician in
three films, Serie Noire, L'Inspecteur connait la musique and, Quelle équipe[
His playing style was intense and
passionate and had a wide vibrato. He was also known to be proficient at
playing several instruments and a master of improvisation (both individual and
collective). Bechet liked to have his sound dominate in a performance, and
trumpeters found it difficult to play alongside him.
On September 15, 1925, Bechet and
other members of the Revue Nègre, including Josephine Baker, sailed to Europe,
arriving at Cherbourg, France, on September 22. The revue opened at the Théâtre
des Champs-Élysées in Paris on October 2. He toured Europe with various bands,
reaching as far as Russia in mid-1926. In 1928, he led his small band at Chez
Bricktop in Montmartre, Paris.
He was imprisoned in Paris for
eleven months. In his autobiography, he wrote that he accidentally shot a woman
when he was trying to shoot a musician who had insulted him. He had challenged
the man to duel and said, "Sidney Bechet never plays the wrong
chord." After his release, he was deported to New York, arriving soon
after the stock market crash of 1929. He joined Noble Sissle's orchestra, which
toured in Germany and Russia.
Shortly before his death, Bechet
dictated his autobiography, Treat It Gentle, to Al Rose, a record producer and
radio host. He had worked with Rose several times in concert promotions and had
a fractious relationship with him. Bechet's view of himself in his
autobiography was starkly different from the one Rose knew. "The kindly
old gentleman in his book was filled with charity and compassion. The one I
knew was self-centered, cold, and capable of the most atrocious cruelty,
especially toward women." Although embellished and frequently inaccurate,
Treat It Gentle remains a staple account for the "insider's view of the
New Orleans tradition."
Bechet died in Garches, near
Paris, of lung cancer on May 14, 1959, his 62nd birthday, and is buried in a
local cemetery.
