Sidney Bechet - I've Found A New Babe (1932)

Sidney Bechet (May 14,1897 - May 14,1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.

He was one of the first important soloists in jazz (beating cornetist and trumpeter Louis Armstrong to the recording studio by several months and later playing duets with Armstrong), and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist of any sort. Forceful delivery, well-constructed improvisations, and a distinctive, wide vibrato characterized Bechet's playing.

Bechet's mercurial temperament hampered his career, however, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim.

Bechet was born in New Orleans to a wealthy Creole family. From a young age, Bechet quickly mastered any musical instrument he encountered. Some New Orleanians remembered him as a cornet hot-shot in his youth. At first he decided on the clarinet as his main instrument and Bechet remained one of jazz's greatest clarinetists for decades. The clarinetist Jimmie Noone, who became famous in his own right, took lessons from Bechet when the latter was only thirteen years old. Despite his prowess on clarinet, Bechet became best remembered as the first great master of the soprano saxophone.

Bechet had experience playing in traveling shows even before he left New Orleans at the age of twenty. Never long content in one place, he alternated using Chicago, New York, and Europe as his base of operations. Bechet was jailed in Paris, France when a female passerby was wounded during a shootout; after serving jail time, Bechet was deported. The most common version of the story, as related in Ken Burns jazz documentary, reports that the initial shootout started when another musician/producer told Bechet that he was playing the wrong chord and Bechet then challenged the man to a duel; critics assert, however, that Bechet was essentially ambushed by a musician with whom he did not get along.

Shortly before his death in Paris, Sidney dictated his poetic autobiography, Treat It Gentle. He died from lung cancer on his sixty-second birthday.


Sidney Bechet - I've Found A New Babe (1932)

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[Joe Carbery]

"Baby" not "Babe".

[Ian Slaney]

This has got to be one of the best traditional jazz records ever - alongside of course Potato Head Blues with Louis Armstrong.

[mochawitch]

nothing like hot jazz...

[ikkiikki1919]

絶句します...

[iamnubetube]

"One person didn't found a new babe!"

I literally signed in for the sole purpose of giving your stupid comment a thumbs down:)

[harryoakley]

Bechet was great but a bit too much to my taste...

[Haristiroful]

one person didn' t found a new babe! :)

[algiardello]

There's a better -- much better, I think -- version of this song that Bechet recorded with Will Bill Davison about 20 years later. Better ensemble playing and very hard-charging, almost dizzying. You can find it on the "Runnin' Wild" album.

[RatPfink66]

Other 2 players on the date: Wilson Myers, bass (played a lot in Paris in the 30s) and Morris Morand, drums (his brother Herb was a pretty well known trumpeter, both from N.O.).

Did you know - Sidney taught himself tailoring on the road, and he survived doing alterations during most of 1932-'33, when nobody would hire the Feetwarmers (which was often). Tommy Ladnier worked in the shop too, pressing clothes and shining shoes.

[Bumblebee38]

Tommy Ladnier Tpt ,Teddy Nixon tb , Hank Duncan p

Sweetie Dear is much better !!!!!