LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Here are 21 prime examples of middle-period Sidney Bechet (1897-1959), the first--and traditional jazz aficionados would say the last--great soprano saxophonist in jazz. With his bristling but always melodically attentive attack and canyon-wide vibrato, Bechet's sound remains instantly identifiable, and his intensity is matched by precious few modernists. This set, spanning the 1940s, captures the master, who also played clarinet, with five different groups (a drum-less quartet and four septets) and alongside a collective crew of like-minded, superlative players. While the eight sides he made with the Big Four, co-led by Muggsy Spanier, an inspired Armstrong disciple on cornet, rank among the finest of his career, the lesser known septets are equally potent. Most of these feature a very young Bob Wilber, then a student of Bechet's and today a leading bearer of his brilliant flame.
Track listing: Sweet Lorraine, Up a Lazy River, China Boy, Four or Five Times, That’s a Plenty, If I Could Be with You, Squeeze Me, Sweet Sue, I Got Rhythm, September Song, Who, Song of the Medina, Love Me with a Feeling, Polka Dot Stomp, Kansas City Man Blues; I’m Through, Goodbye; Waste No Tears; Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home; Blues Improvisation, Broken Windmill, Without a Home