Along with his fellow New Orleanian, Louis Armstrong, Bechet was one of the first great soloists in jazz. His throaty, powerful clarinet and his throbbing soprano are among the most thrilling sounds ...

At Paris’ Olympia music hall, vaudeville was in full flower. There were acrobats, unicyclists, a juggler, Mexican guitarists. But the attraction that filled the 2,000-seat house last week was strictly ...

To all you wonderful Super Bowl visitors, a word to the wise: If you leave this city with memories only of football and booze, without a fuller appreciation of the unique culture of New Orleans, you ...

Sidney Bechet, one of the early jazz greats, made his name on the clarinet, not the cornet or trumpet. Artist: Arthur Leipzig, 1945, Gelatin silver print, National ...

With so much history to explore, tribute albums to jazz greats have become an established custom, regularly issued by artists of varying experience, from neophytes to masters. The most efficacious of ...

"There are not many perfect things in jazz, but Sidney Bechet playing the blues could be one of them." So said poet Philip Larkin of the legendary New Orleans musician who died in 1959. Bechet is ...

Although he has been dead for more than 50 years, there is really only one name that comes to mind when you think about the soprano saxophone, the grand master of the instrument, Sidney Bechet. Born ...

Daniel Bechet unveils a blue plaque in London in honour of his father, jazz musician Sidney Bechet Credit: Photo: Martin Chilton Sidney Bechet's son, the drummer and writer Daniel Bechet, spoke of his ...

Bob Wilber, a clarinetist and saxophonist who fell in love with swing and early jazz just as those styles were going out of fashion and then became an important carrier of their legacy, died on Sunday ...