Human Flower Project
“New Orleans to the World”
One of the giants to come out of New Orleans, musician Sidney Bechet left the Crescent City for Chicago, London and finally Paris. “Petite Fleur” and “Rose of the Rio Grande” are just two of his immortal flowers.
Sidney Bechet
By Josef Norris
The motto of the Neville Brothers, one of the greatest of all family bands, is “New Orleans to the World.”
Hurricane Katrina now has sent the entire city “to the world.” The Baltimore Sun reports today that “Officials estimate 200,000 evacuees are staying in the Houston area.” Tens of thousands of others have flown to Phoenix, bussed to Memphis, or driven to Oklahoma to escape the flood. Disaster has forced them “to the world,” but many will choose to return to New Orleans. The world just can’t offer another place like it.
In 1916, 19-year-old Sidney Bechet left New Orleans for Chicago. Curiosity and musical genius took him to Europe, where his haunting clarinet and soprano saxophone vibrato spread the gospel of jazz. Duke Ellington said: “Bechet was the very epitome of jazz… Everything he played in his whole life was completely original.” And beautiful.
Bechet spent his latter years in Paris, and died there in 1959, though natives of New Orleans would have no problem with his song title “Petite Fleur.” We haven’t found a good audio clip of that tune, but offer you another timely one, from this Red Hot Jazz site. (If you have problems with the link below, come back here.)
To pick up your spirits, play Bechet’s “What a Dream”— New Orleans to the world, from 1938.