Bechet

On Monday, a crowd greeted Allen, 87, with cheers as he stepped onto the red carpet of the Palazzo del Cinema, making a rare appearance with his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, 52, and their two adult daughters, Manzie Tio Allen and Bechet Allen.

Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Billie Holiday and Sidney Bechet are among the jazz greats who enjoy cult status.

Nine of the artists are New Orleans-based — including Willie Birch, Ron Bechet and Anastasia Pelias — a larger percentage than in previous editions of Prospect, which has drawn crowds of 100,000 to 150,000, split about equally between regional and national or international visitors.

“We’d do French cooking, listen to Sidney Bechet, read Russian literature,” he says of his and Johnson’s domestic routine; the other night, they caught a bit of Oliver Stone’s “The Doors” on TV, as Robinson is reminded when he spies Julian Brodsky’s iconic portrait of Jim Morrison on a wall at the hotel.

His great uncle, George Baquet, recorded with Bessie Smith, helped establish the clarinet in jazz and discovered Sidney Bechet.