Celebrating Sidney Joseph Bechet

Jazz clarinettist Adrian Cox, originally from West Sussex and now living in Sweden, returns to the old country for two concerts celebrating Sidney Joseph Bechet.

Bechet (1897-1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinettist and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz.

Adrian will be remembering his music at two Sussex shows: on October 24 at St John’s Church, Burgess Hill and on November 28 at Henry Ward Hall, Hastings.

“The thing with Bechet is that people always think of him playing soprano sax and they think of Paris. But he was from New Orleans and he was a clarinettist first. His first tour was to come to London in 1918. He performed at the Royal Albert Hall and he was a favourite of the king at the time. He performed at Buckingham Palace.

“You listen to his music and it still connects with people. It's genius but it is still understandable. It's very accessible. His music is so beautiful and so heartfelt. If you start playing a Bechet tune, people will recognise it or will say that they heard it in this film or in that film. I believe that his music is still so current. It's a good starting point and it's also a good finishing point. His career was so varied and he was such a virtuoso and he just needs to be celebrated.

“I think now he is a bit more well known. I've done a lot of research. I realised that when he was current, he was not as big a name as I would have imagined in my head. It was not until later when he moved to France, where the people of France fell in love with him and where he lived for the last nine years of his life in Paris, that he really did become more of a name.”

Adrian has lived in Sweden for the past three and a half years: “My girlfriend is Swedish and I love it here. Everything works which is lovely! Where I live it's in the middle of nowhere and it is just so beautiful. We're in the woods and we're by the sea. I can get away on tour and then come back here, and it is so remote that I'm not tempted to do little gigs here and there. I spent my whole life trying to work as much as I can but now I have got the perfect work-life balance. I can be at the beach within five minutes, a beautiful sandy beach with no one on there. But the water is extremely cold as you would expect!”

Adrian is originally from Burgess Hill: “I lived there until I was 15 years old. I left to move from Burgess Hill to Devon to join a traditional New Orleans-style revivalist band. My parents thankfully let me leave home to pursue a career as a professional clarinettist, and in the first year we did 326 concerts! That was me being thrown in at the deep end and it was just great.”