Thursday, May 14, 2009

On This Day: Sidney Bechet (c/o The Music's Over)

On This Date (May 14, 1959) Sidney Bechet

Sidney Bechet
May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959



Sidney Bechet was one of jazz’s greatest soloists. He began playing as a young teen in New Orleans, and by the time he was 20, he was traveling the world and making his mark on both the saxophone and clarinet. He was a prolific composer as well. Bechet’s life was not without controversy as evident by the pistol duel he once instigated in Paris. Bechet evidently had a notoriously bad temper. He was jailed and later deported. Bechet died on his 62nd birthday, May 14, 1959.

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