The centrepiece of this package is the 1956 collaboration between Bechet and the six-piece band led by pianist Sammy Price that was on tour in Europe in 1956.

Trumpeter Emmett Berry and trombonist George Stephenson have no qualms about competing head on with the forceful soprano saxophonist, backed up by the hard-swinging and rock-steady rhythm team of Price and bassist Pops Foster, with Freddie Moore demonstrating his command of ‘old style’ drumming. Yet amid the powerhouse playing there are moments of calm from that most tasteful clarinettist Herbie Hall, and a marvelously relaxed extended trombone chorus from Stephenson on Bechet’s ‘Back Home’. By contrast, Reweliotty’s band (even more than Claude Luter’s which appears on Second Set of this mini-series) works principally as a support group for Bechet, and consequently his star shines very much brighter on their two LPs here. This band’s timing is a little less convincing than Price’s and there’s more than a hint of superficial European Dixieland about their accompaniments, though Bechet plays beautifully – notably leading into a fine version of ‘Stormy Weather’. An exemplary meeting of French and American musicians comes on the final LP Bravo! that put Bechet, trumpeter Teddy Buckner and drummer Kansas Fields together with three European counterparts. Buckner’s strong but relaxed lead is a springboard for Bechet’s solos, and the two of them joust entertainingly by swapping 8-bar phrases, notably on a rousing ‘Weary Blues’ which is anything but!