Petite fleur
Petite Fleur is a 1952 by Sidney Bechet composed and made famous by the Chris Barber's Jazz Band in 1959 that have become jazz standards. The back of the plate, the Wildcat Blues is occasionally erroneously attributed Bechet, however, dates from Fats Waller and Clarence Williams.
Genesis
Raised in New Orleans former street musician Sidney Bechet was in May 1949 for the 1949 Festival International de Jazz to France. When he came across unexpectedly huge response, he remained in France and found a second musical home. He formed the Sidney Bechet All Stars with Longnon Guy (trumpet ), Jean -Louis Durand (trombone), Charlie Lewis ( piano ), Alf " Totole " Masselier ( bass), Armand Molinetti (drums ) and James Campbell ( vocals); he himself played soprano saxophone or clarinet. In this formation 520 121 eleven tracks including his own composition Petite fleur was on January 21, 1952 in Paris at Vogue # recorded, ( little flower ).
Other recordings
On 31 January 1952, the piece with Claude Luter & orchestra in Paris concert hall Salle Pleyel was again (Vogue # 520131 ). Striking feature is the rich vibrato soprano saxophone solo by Bechet. The song was later recorded two more times with Luters orchestra before Bechet aufführte him on March 7, 1954 in Brussels with Michel Attenoux in the Belgian broadcasting. On December 8, 1954, he presented Petite fleur during a concert at the Paris Olympia in turn with Luters Orchestra and Benny Vasseur as a trombonist.
In search of authentic material Chris Barber came across Petite fleur. He took the instrumental song for the first time on September 3, 1955, a further amended on October 10, 1956 appeared on the LP Chris Barber Plays ( Vol. 3). Other versions followed, each with clarinetist Monty Sunshine's vibrato- rich - and strongly oriented on saxophone stock - clarinet solo, which ensures a smooth transition to Dick Bishops zither -like guitar solo. For the first time as a single was released from the LP Chris Barber Plays ( Vol. 3) decoupled version 1958 on the Barber is not listening to yourself. As the public response forthcoming, the record company Pye Nixa decided in January 1959 to re-release - and with success. Only in England appeared as a B- side of the Bugle Boy Rag, otherwise most of the Wild Cat Blues.
Success
Registered in the catalog as Pye Nixa Jazz # NJ2026, the single entered the UK pop charts, where it penetrated up to third place on 13 February 1959. Parallel released in the U.S., it reached number five on the pop here charts and became the million seller. In Germany it reached following its publication in March 1959 the second place in the charts. Barber's version of the Creole songs Petite fleur was sold in the U.S. alone over a million copies. By 1961, an estimated ten million copies of Petite fleur been marketed worldwide.
The success of Petite fleur represents the popularity of British " Trad " jazz (actually Dixieland ) in continental Europe in the late fifties and early sixties was a boom here. Sidney Bechet was the success of his greatest composition no longer fully enjoy, as he died shortly after the release of the hit version on May 14, 1959 in Paris.
From Petite fleur at least 34 versions were published. For Sidney Bechet Joseph total of 164 items are protected by copyright in the ASCAP, including a variety of French-language songs. Petite fleur paved the way for many similar pop music Clarinet Instrumental songs such as Stranger on the Shore or Summer Set by Acker Bilk.