Sidney Bechet & Martial Solal Quartet - 1959

This week I want to shed some light on a rather peculiar album that I haven’t seen discussed very often, it is a compilation of two record dates co-led by Sidney Bechet and French pianist Martial Solal. Issued under many names such as ‘When A Soprano Meets A Piano’, and ‘Sidney Bechet Has Young Ideas (About 14 Great Standards)’ it is most often simply titled ‘Sidney Bechet-Martial Solal’. The two sessions resulted in 14 sides consisting entirely of well worn jazz standards such as All of Me, Embraceable You, and It Don’t Mean A Thing. Most tracks are taken at a similar medium tempo with few if any tracks being particularly slow or exceptionally fast which can make tracks blend into one another at times. Don’t be fooled though, there is a lot to like in these recordings.

Produced by legendary French impresario Charles Delaunay, a frequent collaborator of Solal’s and a man whose long career in jazz is worth a post of its own, who conceived of them as a fusion of old school jazz traditionalism with the more contemporary modernism of the bebop school. It is certainly a compelling combination, though these sessions weren’t the first to attempt the pairing. Bob Wilber, a student and disciple of Bechet, led ‘The Six’ in the mid 1950’s with whom he recorded three LPs attempting to bridge the gap between traditional jazz repertoire with bebop and cool jazz aesthetics. Wilber was also involved in sessions around the same time as the Bechet-Solal collaboration for Dick Cary’s ‘Dixieland Goes Progressive’. Other excursions worth looking into include albums by Dick Sutton, Whitey Mitchell, and others in the mid 1950s. During Bechet’s time in France much of his recorded output featured less collaborative and engaging accompaniment, opting instead for bands who backed him as the star soloist without the kind of well matched talent of his earlier recordings in the USA. This side is different as it gives basically equal air time to Solal’s modern harmony, bebop lines, and off-kilter rhythmic conception as it does to Bechet’s rhythmically driving, highly motivic, soprano playing. It is refreshing and at times exhilarating to hear Bechet’s brand of New Orleans improvisation over a rhythmic underpinning of fluid walking bass and interactive bop drumming, a setting that we rarely (if ever) hear Bechet in. Both of these sessions co-leaders are consistently excellent offering inspired improvisations across all 14 sides, the rhythm section gets decidedly less time to shine with even the longest tracks coming in under four minutes. Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clarke offer more intriguing and engaged accompaniment than their peers Lloyd Thompson and Al Levitt on the initial session with Clarke offering offbeat shots and accents in response to the soloists often propelling the whole ensemble. It’s likely that the more cohesive ensemble sound on this second session can be attributed to not only Bechet and Solal’s familiarity following the initial session on March 12th but also to Bechet’s experience working with Kenny Clarke and Pierre Michelot. The former worked with Bechet both in the early forties and on a record date in 1949 that resulted in two sides which included Michelot on bass.

At the end of the day these sessions don’t have the cohesive sound you would expect from a regular working band yet both sessions are relatively successful. The real highlight here is getting to hear late career Bechet just two years before his passing going toe to toe with a young bebop firebrand at the beginning of what would be a very long career. I often find myself wondering when I listen to these sides what Bechet thought of Solal’s playing at the time, he was known to be an exacting bandleader who expected absolute musical mastery from his collaborators. I can only imagine that he was pleased with the way Solal laid it out on these sides.

I think these sides are essential listening for any fan of Sidney Bechet and especially for any soprano saxophonist thinking about bridging the swing era to bebop. Let me know down below if there are any other hidden gem records we should be checking out. Happy listening!

Sidney Bechet - Soprano Saxophone

Martial Solal - Piano

Lloyd Thompson (tracks 1-8), Pierre Michelot (tracks 9-14) - Bass

Al Levitt (tracks 1-8), Kenny Clarke (tracks 9-14) - Drums

Tracks 1-8 recorded in Paris, France, March 12th 1957. Tracks 9-14 recorded in Paris, France, June 17th 1957.