Editing Sidney Bechet (section)

=== Later life ===
In 1938, "Hold Tight, Hold Tight (Want Some Seafood Mama)," commonly known as "[[Hold Tight (Sidney Bechet song)|Hold Tight]]," was composed by Bechet's guitarist [[Leonard Ware]] and two session singers with claimed contributions from Bechet himself. The song became known for its suggestive lyrics and then for a series of lawsuits over songwriter [[Royalty payment|royalties]].

In 1939, Bechet and the pianist [[Willie "The Lion" Smith]] led a group that recorded several early versions of what was later called [[Latin jazz]], adapting traditional [[méringue]], [[rhumba]] and [[Haiti]]an songs to the jazz idiom. On July 28, 1940, Bechet made a guest appearance on the [[NBC Radio]] show ''[[The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street]]'', playing two of his showpieces ("Shake It and Break It" and "[[Saint Louis Blues (song)|St. Louis Blues]]") with Henry Levine's [[Dixieland]] band. Levine invited Bechet into the [[RCA Studios New York#24th St|RCA Victor]] recording studio (on 24th Street in New York City), where Bechet lent his soprano sax to Levine's traditional arrangement of "[[Muskrat Ramble]]." On April 18, 1941, as an early experiment in [[overdubbing]] at Victor, Bechet recorded a version of the pop song "[[The Sheik of Araby]]," playing six different instruments: [[clarinet]], [[soprano saxophone]], [[tenor saxophone]], [[piano]], [[Double bass|bass]], and [[Drum kit|drums]]. A hitherto unissued master of this recording was included in the 1965 LP ''Bechet of New Orleans'', issued by RCA Victor as LPV-510. In the liner notes, George Hoeffer quoted Bechet:
[[File:Jazz ltd band Nov 1947 front back.jpg|thumb|November, 1947--[[Bill Reinhardt]] (clarinet), [[Danny Alvin]] (drums), Bechet (soprano sax), Mel Grant (piano), and [[Munn Ware]] (trombone).]]
<blockquote>"I started by playing [[The Sheik of Araby|The Sheik]] on piano and played the drums while listening to the piano. I meant to play all the rhythm instruments but got all mixed up and grabbed my soprano, then the bass, then the tenor saxophone, and finally finished up with the clarinet."</blockquote>In 1944, 1946, and 1953, he recorded and performed in concert with the Chicago jazz [[pianist]] and [[Vibraphone|vibraphonist]] [[Max Miller (jazz musician)|Max Miller]]; private recordings from Miller's archive have never been released. These concerts and recordings are described in [[John Chilton]]'s biography ''Sidney Bechet: The Wizard of Jazz''.<ref name="Chilton2">{{cite book|last1=Chilton|first1=John|title=Sidney Bechet: The Wizard of Jazz|date=1987|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0333443861}}</ref>

With jobs in music difficult to find, he opened a tailor shop with Ladnier. They were visited by musicians and played in the back of the shop. In the 1940s, Bechet played in several bands, but his financial situation did not improve until the end of that decade. By the end of the 1940s, Bechet had tired of struggling to make music in the United States. His contract with Jazz Limited, a Chicago-based record label, was limiting the events at which he could perform (for instance, the label would not permit him to perform at the 1948 [[Festival of Europe]] in [[Nice]]). He believed the jazz scene in the United States had little left to offer him and was getting stale.<ref name="Horricks2" />

In 1958, Bechet performed as a soloist and with various other renowned musicians including [[Buck Clayton]] and [[Sarah Vaughan]] in memorable, spirited concerts in the United States Pavilion at [[Expo 58]], the World's Fair in [[Brussels]], Belgium.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://music.apple.com/gb/album/brussels-fair-1958/316069949 | title=Brussels Fair 1958 by Sidney Bechet and His Quartet }}</ref>