Sidney Bechet

(1897 - 1959)

Sidney Bechet was an early jazz legend. Considered by most to be one of the finest of the early New Orleans jazz musicians, he led an interesting life---on and off stage.

Life and times:-

Sidney came from a musical family and started playing the clarinet at age 6
He played with all the New Orleans greats in his teens
He could not read music and never developed the skill
In 1919 he went to Europe with the Will Marion Cook Orchestra but was deported because of a brush with the law
After returning to the US he joined a show featuring Bessie Smith where he started playing soprano saxophone
He worked with Duke Ellington for a short time
He returned to Paris in 1928 but a shooting scrape landed him in jail for 11 months
In 1932 he rejoined Ellington where he tutored Johnny Hodges
After the war Bechet moved to Brooklyn and opened a music school
He moved to France permanently in 1951 and married his third wife, a german woman
He kept a mistress by whom he had a son and continued to play and record until his death in 1959

This page created/maintained by Dr. Michael Day

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