(1897 – 1959) Together with Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet remains one of the personalities who have left a lasting mark on the New Orleans style. His immense talent on clarinet (begun at the age of six) and soprano saxophone made him an outstanding soloist. He started playing in public very young, in 1916 in New Orleans with Clarence Williams and King Oliver, before going up to New York in 1919 after a stint in Chicago. This was the year of his first European tour with Marion Cook’s Southern Syncopated Orchestra and Bennie Peyton’s band. Then in 1925 he did a spell with Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, before leaving for Europe once again with the Revue Nègre. He played frequently with Noble Sissle until 1938, recorded with Earl Hines, Jelly Roll Morton and Tommy Ladnier, and finally settled in Paris during the forties, where he often played with Claude Luter. His intensity, even vehemence, on clarinet soon put him in a different class from other clarinettists; similarly, his relaxed approach to his instrument gave him room to heighten the inner tension when he was playing, mounting it dramatically in a searing progression. He remains a player of distinction on soprano saxophone too, where the strong emotional impact of his unusual vibrato matches his neat use of high note runs, played particularly energetically. The harmonics of his approach are simple but he had a good strong sound, with a nice lyrical touch. His unstinting energy and rare generosity of style made his playing immediately accessible, something much appreciated by European audiences. His fluid rhythms meant he could increase the tension without forcing things, following a coherent harmonic development instead. He died in Garches on 14 May 1959.