I was just deported from Paris after being 11 months in jail for a crime that was not my fault. They accused me for shooting a woman on purpose. That day I may have had lost my temper but I was trying to shoot another musician that was insulting me and most important he was criticizing me for the way i was playing music. I challenged him to a dual and I told him "Sidney Bechet never plays the wrong chord". Unfortunately a bullet from my gun wounded a lady. I felt that I was ambushed from the other musician. From 1925-1926 I have toured with different bands throughout Europe. In 1925 I first sailed to Europe with the Revue Negre members and of course the astonishing woman, Josephine Baker. We went to the magnificent France and we preformed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysée. When touring we managed to reach Russia in 1926. It felt like a huge accomplishment. Many have asked me why I tour in Europe. My passion is to spread around the world the Jazz- blues sound. New Orleans melody should not be heard only in America. The beauty of the melody of a saxophone should be admired from all and not from few. July, 1923 has kept me really busy. I must inform you all that I have recorded a record with the help and support of Clarence Williams. He is well talented man that is a songwriter, pianist, and music publisher. My first composition is called Wild Cat Blues. I was honored to play music with Louis Armstrong in this record . The melody is fascinating because I managed to create a melody with four themes at sixteen bars each. I am glad to hear your opinion. The video below has the audio of the song. Kansas City Man BluesThe second composition is called Kansas City Man Blues. It was a melody that I enjoyed creating. The smoothness and the roughness of the melody makes me travel and I hope it makes you feel good as much as it makes me. It was composed with the help of Williams and I want to personally thank him for his excellent work. I shouldn't forget to mention that it is a genuine 12-bar blues. I hope you appreciate the record and support me by listening it. Thank you all for your tremendous support all this time. Enjoy the music. London and its beautiful people will be always in my heart. London will be always the city were I started playing the straight soprano saxophone. It is an instrument in which I am planning to turn my life around. The sound of it makes me fall in love with it even more. It has a "reckless" and "emotional" sound. The last few years my life have changed for the better. From 1914-1917, I have travelled through America. I had reached my tour to north of Chicago. My favorite moments of that tour was when I worked with Freddie Keppard. Keppard was a man of talent. I must say together with our music we motivated musicians from New Orleans to migrate to the north. They are so many opportunities in the north for new talents. Keppard was a guy that enjoyed his job not allowing any money to stop our music from playing. It's 1919 and I must say I am proud to inform you all that I am playing with Will Marion Cook's Syncopated Orchestra. A man with amazing spirit and talent. We just finished our tour in Europe with the orchestra. We played fully jazz-blues concert music throughout the tour. The orchestra was honored to play in England at the Royal Philharmonic Hall. I believe the audience in Europe was brightened with our music and surprised with the beauty of our music. They seemed really pleased after every concert and that gave me pride. I feel humble by reading the famous Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet comment about my work during my tour. A man with so much influence called me “artist of genius”. His words make me feel unstoppable. I was born on May 14, in 1889. My childhood was spent in New Orleans. From an early age my brother Leonard Victor Bechet was my inspiration to start playing the clarinet. At the age of 6 I started playing the clarinet in my brother's band. The clarinet was the woman of my life. There was no day that passed by without trying to compose a "wicked" melody. I was blessed to be guided by the best clarinets such as Lorenzo Tio, George Baquet and Louis Nelson Delisle. My passion is to improvise all type of different varieties of jazz melodies with my clarinet. I would sit down on the porch playing music, forgetting the world around me. Around the age of 13 I was honored to play the clarinet in the Olympia Orchestra, and John Robichaux's "genteel" dance orchestra. In 1911-1912 I played music with one of the first jazz pioneers, my old friend Bunk Johnson. He had approached me and he offered me a job in a real band. I could not believe that a boy like me that was mostly self-taught had this big opportunity. We played in the most known blues band, The Eagle Band. The Eagle Band was much more of a barrelhouse band, a real gutbucket band, a low down band which really played the blues, and those slow tempos. To tell the true the Eagle Band was the only band that could play the blues. That was really a band. |