This historical set is expected to be Released by famous label in Mid - Late January. Sidney Bechet's legacy as one of the key figures in traditional jazz, is brilliantly displayed here in this set of recordings from 1923 through 1947 for the Columbia family of labels. His mastery of projecting an extremely powerful soprano saxophone and clarinet could carry any size ensemble and was looked upon with reverence by anyone who came in contact with him.
A primary goal in selecting these Bechet titles was to cherry pick the best solos or obbligatos from the seminal Clarence Williams Blue Five recordings on OKeh and bring them to the high sonic standards of a Mosaic package. These recordings represent Bechet in his twenties, yet he is already a dominating master of his craft. Our dilemma, however, turned out that these mid 1920s recordings are extremely rare and to find one in a clean enough condition to transfer was a real daunting task. However with help from collectors all over the planet, our restoration man for this set Doug Pomeroy was able to present the music in the best sound to date of this precious material. We used the original metal parts and lacquer discs to transfer the rest of the recordings on this set
The recordings from 1937 to 1947 begin with Bechet single-handedly lifting a big band while as a sideman with the Noble Sissle Orchestra on the rare Variety label. After leaving that band, he was featured as a leader on a magnificent date for Vocalion, pairing him with the under appreciated baritone saxophonist, Ernie Caceres. The first session under his leadership for Columbia, has Bechet pared with his protégé Bob Wilber who has graced our set by handling the notes giving us a greater insight of Bechet. The rest of the material comes from 1947 with Bechet's quartet that worked regularly at Jimmy Ryans. These quartet sessions reveal that Bechet did not only relegate his material to Trad tunes but to popular standards as well. An added bonus are the 14 previously unissued takes included here.
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