Hugo Siegmeth

Hugo Siegmeth: Red Onions: Celebrating Sidney Bechet

by Chris May
May 3, 2006

Against the odds, this is an audacious and mesmerising album--the second tribute album in as many weeks, after Pat Martino's Remember: A Tribute To Wes Montgomery, to confound expectations.

Hugo Siegmeth is a 36 year-old German reed player whose style owes nothing to the great soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet (1897-1959). His astringent and quirky lyricism has instead developed out of Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson. These musicians, along with younger, freer players, provide the prism through ...