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Bix Beiderbecke

Early jazz legend Leon Bismark [Bix] Beiderbecke was born on March 10, 1903, in Davenport, Iowa, a mid-sized midwestern city. He attended Davenport schools until 1920 and showed an early aptitude for music. His family disapproved of his interest in jazz and sent him to Lake Forest Academy [IL] in 1921, but the opportunity to play and hear jazz in nearby Chicago was too distracting and eventually led to his expulsion. After several months working for his father in Davenport, he returned to Chicago.

He played with several bands around Chicago joining the Wolverine Orchestra in 1924. Bix became well known through his playing and recordings with the Wolverines. In October 1924 Bix left The Wolverines and joins The Jean Goldkette Orchestra. Also in that year, he began playing with Frankie Trumbauer’s jazz group, recording with him in New York and playing mostly in St. Louis. Bix’s association with Trumbrauer broadened his musical experiences. In late 1926, he and Trumbauer joined Goldkette and were prominent members of his group in New York until it disbanded in September 1927.

In October 1927, Bix and Trumbauer joined the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. The Whiteman Orchestra was on national radio, and played every major concert hall in the USA, including Carnegie Hall where Bix played his own composition "In A Mist." Bix continued with Whiteman until September 1929. Experiencing a larger audience Bix continued to write and record many of his most memorable compositions. Beiderbecke's originality made him one of the first white jazz musicians to be admired by black performers. Louis Armstrong recognized in him a kindred spirit, and Rex Stewart exactly reproduced some of his solos on recordings. Beiderbecke's influence on such white players as Red Nichols and Bunny Berigan was decisive.

Beiderbecke's worsening alcoholism caused his health to deteriorate, and he was frequently unable to perform gigs. He left Whiteman in September 1929; his hopes of rejoining the group after recuperation were not realized. Until his death, he worked in New York in a radio series with the Dorsey brothers a few times, with the Casa Lorna Orchestra, and with Benny Goodman. Bix did seek treatment for his addiction in rehabilitation centers, with the direct support of Whiteman and the Beiderbecke family. Ultimately, he failed to stop his decline. He left the Whiteman band in 1929 and in the summer of 1931 died aged 28 in his Queens apartment. He was buried on August 11, 1931, in the family plot at Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport.

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7
Book Review

Bix

Read "Bix" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Bix Scott Chantler 254 Pages ISBN: #9781501190780 (13) Gallery 13 2020 Leon Bismark “Bix" Beiderbecke's brief life has all of the hallmarks of a romantic legend. Wrote and recorded some of the landmark music in the early history of jazz; inspired a generation of soloists; overcame obstacles, including a lack of family support; died young after a brilliant career; and struggled with self-destructive impulses. Artist/writer Scott Chantler acknowledges all of this in ...

4
Radio & Podcasts

Bix and the Boys (1924 - 1928)

Read "Bix and the Boys (1924 - 1928)" reviewed by Russell Perry


(If this program is unavailable in your country from Mixcloud, please scroll down and listen via Soundcloud.) In the last hour we heard the most important jazz recordings of the 1920s—the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens led by cornetist Louis Armstrong. Perhaps the other most influential cornet player of the era was a young white musician from Davenport Iowa, Bix Beiderbecke. In this hour we will listen to his music often in the company of C-melody saxophonist ...

401
Album Review

Various: The Influence of Bix Beiderbecke - Vol. One (USA)/ Vol. Two (Europe)

Read "The Influence of Bix Beiderbecke - Vol. One (USA)/ Vol. Two (Europe)" reviewed by Michael Steinman


Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, perhaps jazz's most mythic figure, continues to receive much deserved attention. This beautifully-documented CD set, full of rarities, shows how deeply Beiderbecke affected musicians in the United States and Europe before his death in 1931. The first disc offers tributes by well-known players (Red Nichols, Manny Klein, Sterling Bose and Jimmy McPartland), as well as solos once thought to be Beiderbecke's. On every track, someone explodes out of the ensemble or creates wistful sound-castles ...

194
Album Review

The Bix Beiderbecke Centennial All-Stars: Celebrating Bix!

Read "Celebrating Bix!" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, who considered himself a failure and died (primarily from alcohol abuse) in 1931 at age twenty-eight, would no doubt have been astonished to learn that a group of world- class musicians was assembling to record an album celebrating the hundredth anniversary of his birth. But if Bix was unable to recognize his own genius, others were--and now, seventy-two years onward, he rests comfortably in the pantheon raised to honor such legendary jazz pioneers as Louis Armstrong, King ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bix Beiderbecke's birthday today!

Early jazz legend Leon Bismark [Bix] Beiderbecke was born on March 10, 1903, in Davenport, Iowa, a mid-sized midwestern city. He attended Davenport schools until 1920 and showed an early aptitude for music. His family disapproved of his interest in jazz and sent him to Lake Forest Academy [IL] in 1921, but the opportunity to play and hear jazz in nearby Chicago was too distracting and eventually led to his expulsion. ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bix Beiderbecke's birthday today!

As a boy, Bix Beiderbecke had a few piano lessons, but he was self-taught on cornet and developed an unorthodox technique by playing along with recordings. His family disapproved of his interest in jazz and sent him to Lake Forest Academy in 1921, but the opportunity to play and hear jazz in nearby Chicago caused frequent truancy and eventually his expulsion. After several months working for his father in Davenport, he ...

1

Interview

Brigitte Berman on Bix Beiderbecke

Brigitte Berman on Bix Beiderbecke

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Yesterday, I provided you with a link and password to watch Oscar-winning director Brigitte Berman's newly restored documentary, Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet (1981) for free. Brigitte generously made this possible. To recap, you can watch by going here and typing in this password: Solnicki. Don't forget to clear the existing password that's there now before typing in or pasting in the password provided. This password is good only until Friday at 10 p.m. (ET), so ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bix Beiderbecke's birthday today!

As a boy, Bix Beiderbecke had a few piano lessons, but he was self-taught on cornet and developed an unorthodox technique by playing along with recordings. His family disapproved of his interest in jazz and sent him to Lake Forest Academy in 1921, but the opportunity to play and hear jazz in nearby Chicago caused frequent truancy and eventually his expulsion. After several months working for his father in Davenport, he ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bix Beiderbecke's birthday today!

As a boy, Bix Beiderbecke had a few piano lessons, but he was self-taught on cornet and developed an unorthodox technique by playing along with recordings. His family disapproved of his interest in jazz and sent him to Lake Forest Academy in 1921, but the opportunity to play and hear jazz in nearby Chicago caused frequent truancy and eventually his expulsion. After several months working for his father in Davenport, he ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bix Beiderbecke's birthday today!

As a boy, Bix Beiderbecke had a few piano lessons, but he was self-taught on cornet and developed an unorthodox technique by playing along with recordings. His family disapproved of his interest in jazz and sent him to Lake Forest Academy in 1921, but the opportunity to play and hear jazz in nearby Chicago caused frequent truancy and eventually his expulsion. After several months working for his father in Davenport... Read ...

2

Video / DVD

Monday Surprise: Seeing Bix

Monday Surprise: Seeing Bix

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

For many aficionados of Bix Beiderbecke the surprise is not that there is so little film of the great cornetist, but that there is any. To the left, we see a frame of film shot in 1928 for Fox Movietone News of the Whiteman orchestra recording or rehearsing a piece called “My Ohio Home.” When Beiderbecke died in 1931 at the age of 28, he had earned the admiration of his contemporary and friend Louis Armstrong and become an inspiration ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bix Beiderbecke's birthday today!

As a boy, Bix Beiderbecke had a few piano lessons, but he was self-taught on cornet and developed an unorthodox technique by playing along with recordings. His family disapproved of his interest in jazz and sent him to Lake Forest Academy in 1921, but the opportunity to play and hear jazz in nearby Chicago caused frequent truancy and eventually his expulsion. After several months working for his father in Davenport... Read ...

Video / DVD

The Syncopated Soul of Bix

The  Syncopated Soul of Bix

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In the 1920s, syncopation was the iPhone and social media of its day. Invented by New Orleans musicians and popularized in gangland Chicago, the infectious sound of off-beat rhythms enhanced by wailing jazz trumpets and cornets became a national rage. Whether you were rich or poor, black or white, it made no difference. The music transcended class and race. It could be heard on 78 records and in ballrooms and bars. The music's earthy, care-free personality also permeated fashion, ushering ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bix Beiderbecke

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bix Beiderbecke's birthday today!

As a boy, Bix Beiderbecke had a few piano lessons, but he was self-taught on cornet and developed an unorthodox technique by playing along with recordings. His family disapproved of his interest in jazz and sent him to Lake Forest Academy in 1921, but the opportunity to play and hear jazz in nearby Chicago caused frequent truancy and eventually his expulsion. After several months working for his father in Davenport... Read ...

Drew Nugent
multi-instrumentalist
Attila Korb
trombone
Bob Effros
trumpet
Carl Spencer
trumpet
Wolfram Goebel
saxophone, tenor

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Anthology

Classic Jazz
2011

buy

Greatest Hits

Classic Jazz
2011

buy

In A Mist

Classic Jazz
2007

buy

Bix and Pops Lost...

Billowing Records
2003

buy

Bix & Tram

Classic Jazz
2002

buy

Videos

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