Jazz great's sax auctioned off :: eJazzNews.com : The Number One Jazz News Resource On The Net :: Jazz News Daily

Jazz great's sax auctioned off :: eJazzNews.com : The Number One Jazz News Resource On The Net :: Jazz News Daily Jazz great's sax auctioned off
Posted by: editoron Thursday, December 08, 2005 - 08:25 PM
Jazz News Paris - Jazz great Sidney Bechet's soprano saxophone sold at auction in Paris on Wednesday for more than $140 000.

The instrument, which Bechet used to compose many of his standards, inspired the highest bid among 32 pieces up for sale at the Hotel Drouot auction house. The total selling price, including fees, was $140 900, the auction house said.

A hand-written love letter from the New Orleans jazzman to his wife, Jacqueline, sold for $2 817. Golden cuff links decorated with the initials "SB" went for $2 957.

Daniel Bechet, a drummer who lives in France, organised the auction to finance a foundation dedicated to his father's memory in the south of France. Born in New Orleans in 1897, the clarinet and saxophone player died in France in 1959.