About Sidney Bechet
Sidney Joseph Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temperament hampered his career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim. Bechet spent much of his later life in France. While working with Louis Armstrong, Bechet was one of the first musicians to develop the Swing style of jazz; he influenced the widening difference between jazz and ragtime. Bechet was the first influential soprano saxophonist, leading to its rising popularity as a jazz instrument. It was one of the earliest (if not the first) articles about a jazz musician written by an expert in the field of classical music, linking Bechet's music with that of Bach.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.