Music Style Jazz

Artist History by Eric D. Offner Producer and President of The Sidney Bechet Society. I wanted to record part of the two-year history of the Sidney Bechet Society. On June 6, 1999, the SBS Society made the first CD, in a studio in Whitestone. This CD contains music performed at SBS concerts and mostly the same musicians are recorded. The first Bechet concert, a private party, featured Bob Wilber, who was the star of many Bechet Centennials including those in New York at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. At that first concert,Bross Townsend, Gwen Cleveland, Vince Giordano, and Giampaola Biagi among others played. I added five other musicians from past Bechet Society concerts, George Wein, Bubba Brooks, Wycliffe Gordon, Ed Polcer and Mark Shane. Two musicians were making their debut for the Sidney Bechet Society, namely Hernan Riley from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and John Dooley who has worked with Bross Townsend and Gwen Cleveland for many years. There were no rehearsals for this recording. Each piece of music is the first take. The entire CD was recorded in five hours. Most numbers have their very special moment. The show stopping numbers of previous Bechet concerts are well captured by Bross Townsend on After Hours, by Bubba Brooks on Blue And Sentimental, by Gwen Cleveland on You Can Have My Husband, and by Ed Polcer’s Relaxing At The Tuoro. George Wein in 1958 recorded the next to last recording by Sidney Bechet at the World’s Fair in Brussels, and he plays two new numbers, Crazy Rhythm an Sunny Side Of The Street. Mr. Wein had to return to the hospital where a friend was dying and it is a tribute to him that he decided to travel to Queens on this Sunday morning of June 6. Bob Wilbur was the obvious choice for soprano saxophone for The Sidney Bechet Society, and he has been most supportive. He created three songs for the recording session, the SBS Blues, A Rose For Sidney, and When Sidney Meets The Duke. The SBS Blues had its first public hearing at Lincoln Center when Donald Gardiner as disc jockey played the tune in early July. The band which played for Rebecca Weller’s Midsummer Night Swing that evening gave the music high approval. A Rose For Sidney takes the chord progressions from Rose Room, and thus creates a double meaning for the title. The third Wilber composition represents an important musical event, when Bechet joined the Ellington Orchestra. On this recording, Bob Wilber evokes the New Orleans musical sound inspired by his mentor Sidney Bechet, and continues to establish his world-wide acceptance as the master of the soprano saxophone. The younger musicians who have spread the jazz musical gospel around the globe are well represented by Wycliffe Gordon. Great innovators of the past, from Louis to Sidney to Prez to Bird and beyond always bring a new dimension to the music as exemplified by Wycliffe Gordon in Sweet Georgia Brown and I’ve Gotta Right To Sing The Blues. His combination of vocals while playing trombone is reminiscent of a concept utilized by Red McKenzie and Slam Stewart. Ed Polcer evokes the days of the Eddie Condon gang, with Relaxing At The Touro the tune Muggsy Spanier made famous, and which Ed Polcer’s muted cornet makes his own. Bubba Brooks shines on all his numbers with a style that has “air” of Ben Webster and the full tone of a Coleman Hawkins and Chu Berry. Each of the musicians made great contributions in each of the fourteen pieces that were recorded. They preserved the spirit of the music played at Bechet Society concerts, and provide joy for the listener as long as this CD is played.

Group Members Bob Wilber, Soprano Saxophone- George Wein, Piano- Wycliffe Gordon, Trombone- Ed Polcer, Cornet- Vince Giordano, Bass Saxophone and Bass- Mark Shane, Piano- Bross Townsend, Piano- John Dooley, Bass- Bubba Brooks, Tenor Saxophone- Giampaolo Biagi, Drums- Gwen Cleveland, Vocalist

Albums A Tribute To Sidney Bechet

Location New Hyde Park, New York - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).