Sidney Bechet - Sidney Bechet: Petite Fleur

It was Duke Ellington who said: �Bechet to me was the very epitome of jazz�. Indeed Sidney Bechet (1897-1959) was one of the supreme talents of jazz history; as a soloist rivalled only by Louis Armstrong, and the creator of a jazz language for his favoured instrument, the soprano saxophone (as well as being an unsurpassed clarinetist). Retrospective�s Petite Fleur (the title of his biggest international hit) offers a unique 2 CD survey of an extraordinary career, from his very first issued record, Wild Cat Blues of 1923, through to highlights of his later years in Paris. In between is a sequence of unsurpassed jazz masterpieces: Really The Blues, Summertime, Indian Summer, Blues In Thirds, Egyptian Fantasy, Blue Horizon and so many more: 48 classics lasting 2 hours and 38 minutes.