1897-1959

First Panel:

This bronze bust of Sidney Bechet is a faithful copy of the original by French sculptor Abel Chrétien. The original erected in 1960, a year after Bechet’s death in Juan-Les-Fins, France. This town was named in 1994 as a “Twin City” to New Orleans’ Vieux Carre. Chretien’s Bechet sculpture in France is thought to be the first public monument to a jazz musician erected anywhere in the world. This fine copy was executed by the Fonderie De Coubertin in St. Remy-Les-Chevreuses, France 1997. Bechet mentions Congo Square prominently in his autobiography, thereby giving meaning to this site.

Second Panel:

...“Wizard of Jazz” and Master of the Clarinet and Soprano Saxophone

Born: May 14, 1897, New Orleans

Died: May 14, 1959, Paris, France

“I have never forgotten the power and imagination with which he played,” Duke Ellington (c. 1973)

This memorial was unveiled by Mark H. Morial, Mayor, City of New Orleans, and Francois Bujon de Vestang French Ambassador to the U.S. in the presence of Daniel Sidney Bechet and other Bechet family members too numerous to mention....

Third Panel:

This monument to Jazz giant Sidney Bechet was made possible by a grant from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. June Cahn and Family have also assisted with a generous donation in memory of Jules Cahn whose love of Jazz and the French Quarter was known by all who knew him.

Dedicated May 6, 1997

Sidney Bechet Centennial Committee

Marker can be reached from North Rampart Street.

Courtesy hmdb.org

Credits and Sources: