A new model for hadronic jet fragmentation in hard processes is presented. It is based on a QCD parton branching mechanism with correct treatment of leading collinear and infra-red singularities (i.e. including soft gluon interference). Hadronization occurs via preconfinement of colour singlet clusters, which decay according to a simple phase-space scheme. Although tightly constrained, the model gives a good account of existing e⁺ e⁻ annihilation data. It predicts significant differences between quark and gluon jets. Comparisons with datadata on the CERN p̄p collider jets suggest that a large fraction of them are gluon jets. The model predicts soft gluon interference effects in hadron distributions which are probably not yet observable for pions but should be clear for kaons and baryons.