Sidney Bechet

[king ubu]

Question about the two early 1949 sessions: the Mosaic box (1985) gives Pops Foster on bass for the January 21, 1949 (but Walter Page for the next one from March 23, 1949), while the 1998 CD "Runnin' Wild" says it's actually Walter Page on bass for both (which is a somewhat surprising choice, but then honestly I have no clue what Page did after the Basie OT band fell apart, and in those days almost everything was possible anyway, or else the money was right ... not saying to play with Bechet was an occasion where the money had to fit, but that Red Allen dixieland album on Verve makes me cringe, to name just one example).

Here's the "accepted" line-up for the sessions (per jazzdisco.org, matching the 1998 CD):

"Wild Bill" Davison, cornet; Sidney Bechet, soprano sax; Art Hodes, piano; Walter Page, bass; Fred Moore, drums.

Anyone has any insight why/when the "change" took place?

 

 

[EKE BBB]

Mal Collins’ discography of Sidney Bechet  (2011) also lists Walter Page on both sessions.

[king ubu]

On ‎25‎.‎08‎.‎2019 at 6:43 PM, EKE BBB said:

Mal Collins’ discography of Sidney Bechet  (2011) also lists Walter Page on both sessions.

Thanks - I guess it's quite easy to tell by comparing their playing styles anyway (and then it's Page indeed, Foster is one of the final BN Bechet sessions and does his old school two beat and slap bass thing, which is very different from Page's style), but I was wondering where that inaccuracy might come from.

[mikeweil]

Discograhical inaccuracies can happen to anyone. The Tom Lord Disco also has Page for these two sessions.

[Late]

My first exposure to the music of Sidney Bechet came by way of the below two albums. I first heard them on vinyl, though they were reissued on compact disc—but I guess only in France?

Anybody else come to Bechet via this route? And were these albums ever on CD in the U.S.?

(On CD in the U.S. in this particular incarnation, I mean.)

[danasgoodstuff]

I've found that the things by Bechet that I like, I really really like - like Summertime which may be my favorite version of that tune.  But that generally he seems awkwardly stuck between being a truly trad player who would play more nicely with others in a supporting role and being a truly modern player.  I had a complete Bechet on BN and didn't keep it.  I still have a fair bit of Sidney, but don't need it all.  If anything, I generally enjoy Edmond Hall's work for the label more on a consistent basis.

[kh1958]

This one is highly enjoyable: French Movies

[jazzbo]

Over the years I've become a bigger and bigger Bechet nut. I have all the Masters Of Jazz (Media7) volumes (thanks to purchase on this board) and all the Chronogical Classics that feature material after the dates on the Masters of Jazz, a good handful of later appearances, and duplicate individual discs that I can't or won't yet part with.

I love his clarinet sound! I wish he played it more, but his playing on other reed instruments always excite as well.

[mjzee]

I find Bechet to be consistently interesting, with an energy that enlivens the ensembles he plays in.  I know that trill can become a bit much, but I think of that aspect in a similar vein to Coleman Hawkins's eighth notes - he learned it early on and he ain't gonna stop doing it; it probably helped to be heard in the age before amplification.  

I don't know if those Bechet BNs were released on CD in the US.  I have all that material on the Bechet Mosaic big box, but those are LPs.  

[jazzbo]

I'm pretty sure that almost all the Bechet Blue Note material came out on cd from Blue Note if not always on "Bechet only" cds.

I wish Blue Note would revisit all the material from the first decade with new up to date mastering. . . but I would prefer not vinyl releases. But I doubt either format will be produced unfortunately.

[danasgoodstuff]

If there were new vinyl reissues, it might free up some used CD copies.

[Late]

I'm realizing that I don't have the track "Days Beyond Recall" on any CD—or, more accurately, any CD that I can currently locate. Those BN comps (Jazz Classics, Vol.s 1&2) cherrypicked Bechet tracks from a number of sessions, but their programming was really good. They played as albums.

Checking online, it looks like those CDs only came out via EMI France (in 1993), and were therefore not impossible to find in the U.S., but also not very likely.

[romualdo]

23 minutes ago, Late said:

I'm realizing that I don't have the track "Days Beyond Recall" on any CD—or, more accurately, any CD that I can currently locate.

One of my fav compilations is the 14CD set released by Universal France in 2011 "The Complete American Masters, 1931-53" (it does include "Days Beyond Recall"). I remember it being quite affordable/cheap at the time. Excellent transfers

[mjzee]

Speaking of Bechet, I recently listened to his disc in the Ken Burns Jazz series.  Perusing the liner notes, I find I need the following RCA 3-CD set:

[Rabshakeh]

Are there any good single disc records of his from the post war period?

 

[danasgoodstuff]

I like this one, which puts him in a modernist context.

[romualdo]

11 hours ago, Late said:

My first exposure to the music of Sidney Bechet came by way of the below two albums. I first heard them on vinyl, though they were reissued on compact disc—but I guess only in France?

Anybody else come to Bechet via this route? And were these albums ever on CD in the U.S.?

(On CD in the U.S. in this particular incarnation, I mean.)

my first Bechets were the Australian World Record Club pressings (1975) of both these LPs