On the Sunny Side of the Street
CD Universal 839 401-2
The CD contains the very first recordings that Sidney Bechet did in Paris in 1949.
Bechet is, of course, superior here, with more skill, more know-how, and more energy than his French fellow musicians possess. And there is some harmony in this situation with the teacher and his pupils. In a period before his move to Europe there were some recordings where trumpet players tried to compete with his soprano to no avail.
Still, I think that on this particular tune the master expresses even more when he states the melody. I hear a true nostalgia in his playing. Maybe it’s a longing to be back home or to go back in time to the early days of jazz, but instead he brought the music of New Orleans to France.