Treat It Gentle: An Autobiography

Overview

"Born to a musical Creole shoemaker, Sidney Bechet (1897-1959) was raised on the polite waltzes and quadrilles of New Orleans middle-class society. But it wasn't long before the young clarinet prodigy discovered the syncopated sounds coming out of the brothels and dancehalls of Storyville. By eleven, Bechet was soloing with Bunk Johnson's orchestra, and at fifteen he was improvising duets with cornet master Buddy Petit. Leaving New Orleans at age nineteen for New York and Chicago ("We'd heard all about how the North was freer"), Bechet moved on to England and France, where he soon settled and became the darling of Paris society. Along the way, he played clarinet and soprano saxophone with such legends as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Jelly Roll Morton." In Treat It Gentle, the prince of New Orleans jazz shares tales of his slave grandfather, insights on the evolving jazz sounds, stories of Josephine Baker and the Revue Negre, and so much more. Meet Sidney Bechet, experience the era in which he lived, and come to know the music he loved. It's an unforgettable journey that no jazz fan will want to miss.

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