Leon Bix Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist and composer, as well as a skilled classical and jazz pianist.
In his short life, Bix Beiderbecke left a legacy of
recordings of his beautiful cornet sound, his impressionistic piano playing,
and the most influential alternative to Louis Armstrong's approach to jazz cornet.
His solo playing was supremely melodic, phrased slightly after the beat, and
with such clarity of sound that one contemporary described it as 'like shooting
bullets at a bell', while guitarist Eddie Condon likened his tone to 'a girl
saying 'yes'.
Davenport High School show,
circa 1920. Front right is
Bix Beiderbecke.
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Bix Beiderbecke was one of the great jazz musicians of
the 1920's; he was also a child of the Jazz Age who drank himself to an early
grave with illegal Prohibition liquor. His hard drinking and beautiful tone on
the cornet made him a legend among musicians during his life. The legend of Bix
grew even larger after he died. Bix never learned to read music very well, but
he had an amazing ear even as a child. His parents disapproved of his playing
music and sent him to a military school outside of Chicago in 1921. He was soon
expelled for skipping class and became a full-time musician.
In 1923 Beiderbecke joined the Wolverine Orchestra and
recorded with them the following year. Bix was influenced a great deal by the
Original Dixieland Jass Band, but soon surpassed their playing. In late 1924
Bix left the Wolverines to join Jean Goldkette's Orchestra, but his inability
to read music eventually resulted in him losing the job.
Bix's Rhythm Jugglers at Gennett Recording
Studio in
Richmond, Indiana, 1925
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In 1926 he spent some
time with Frankie Trumbauer's Orchestra where he recorded his solo piano
masterpiece “In A Mist”. He also recorded some of his best work
with Trumbauer
and guitarist, Eddie Lang, under the name of Tram, Bix, and Eddie. Bix was able
to bone up on his sight-reading enough to re-join Jean Goldkette's Orchestra
briefly, before signing up as a soloist with Paul Whiteman's Orchestra.
Jean Goldkette's Band. 1926. Bix seated with cornet.
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Whiteman's Orchestra was the most popular band of the
1920's and Bix enjoyed the prestige and money of playing with such a successful
outfit, but it didn't stop his drinking. In 1929 Bix's drinking began to catch
up with him. He suffered from delirium tremens and he had a nervous breakdown
while playing with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, and was eventually sent back to
his parents in Davenport, Iowa to recover. It should be noted that Paul Whiteman
was very good to Bix during his struggles. He kept Bix on full pay long after
his breakdown, and promised him that his chair was always open in the Whiteman
Orchestra, but, Bix was never the same again, and never rejoined the band.
Bix returned to New York in 1930 and made a few more
records with his friend Hoagy Carmichael and under the name of Bix Beiderbecke
and his Orchestra. But mainly, he holed himself up in a rooming house in
Queens, New York where he drank a lot and worked on his beautiful solo piano
pieces "Candlelight", "Flashes", and "In The
Dark" (Bix never recorded them).
Beiderbecke's last performance was at Princeton
University. He had been ill in bed, suffering from a bad cold, but he didn't
want to disappoint those counting on him to play. A week later, Bix died in his
apartment, No. 1G, 43-30 46th Street, in Sunnyside, Queens, New York on August
6, 1931. The week had been stiflingly hot, making sleep difficult. Suffering
from insomnia, Beiderbecke played the piano late into the evenings, both to the
annoyance and the delight of his neighbours. On the evening of August 6, at
about 9.30 pm, his rental agent, George Kraslow, heard noises coming from
across the hallway. "His hysterical shouts brought me to his apartment on
the run," Kraslow told Philip Evans in 1959.
“His whole body was trembling violently, he staggered and
fell, a dead weight, in my arms.” The official cause of death was lobar
pneumonia and oedema of the brain.
Beiderbecke's mother and brother took the train to New
York and arranged for his body to be taken home to Davenport. He was buried
there on August 11, 1931 in the family plot at Oakdale Cemetery
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.
Although he was largely unknown to the general public at the time of his death,
he acquired an almost legendary aura among jazz musicians and enthusiasts.
On account of such popularized tales as Dorothy Baker's novel Young Man with a Horn (Boston, 1938), based very loosely on his life and career, he soon came to symbolize the "Roaring Twenties" in the popular imagination. Only in recent years have legend and fact become clearly separated and Beiderbecke's career and achievement has been seen in a true perspective.
On account of such popularized tales as Dorothy Baker's novel Young Man with a Horn (Boston, 1938), based very loosely on his life and career, he soon came to symbolize the "Roaring Twenties" in the popular imagination. Only in recent years have legend and fact become clearly separated and Beiderbecke's career and achievement has been seen in a true perspective.
(info edited from Wikipedia & red hot jazz)
2 comments:
For “Bix Beiderbecke - Real Jazz Me Blues (1992)” go here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/rt82vsrkgnt315b/BxBdrbck-RJMB90.zip
CD 1:
1. Trumbology (3:02)
2. Clarinet Marmalade (3:16)
3. Singin' the Blues (3:03)
4. Ostrich Walk (3:08)
5. Riverboat Shuffle (3:10)
6. I'm Coming Virginia (3:13)
7. Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (2:53)
8. For No Reason at All in C (3:05)
9. Three Blind Mice (3:04)
10. Blue River (3:19)
11. There's a Cradle in Caroline (3:04)
12. In a Mist (2:47)
13. Wringin' and Twistin' (2:56)
14. Humpty Dumpty (3:04)
15. Krazy Kat (3:04)
16. The Baltimore (3:02)
17. There Ain't No Land Like Dixieland to Me (3:04)
18. There's a Cradle in Caroline (2:57)
19. Just an Hour of Love (2:54)
20. I'm Wonderin' Who (2:51)
CD 2:
1. Three Blind Mice #1 (2:54)
2. Three Blind Mice #2 (2:53)
3. Clorinda #1 (2:59)
4. Clorinda #2 (3:05)
5. I'm More Than Satisifed #1 (3:12)
6. I'm More Than Satisifed #2 (3:12)
7. At the Jazz Band Ball (2:53)
8. Royal Garden Blues (3:04)
9. Jazz Me Blues (3:05)
10. Goose Pimples (3:19)
11. Sorry (2:56)
12. Cryin' All Day (3:05)
13. A Good Man Is Hard to Find (3:04)
14. Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down (3:06)
15. Sugar (3:10)
16. There'll Come a Time (Wait and See) (2:56)
17. Jubilee (3:18)
18. Mississippi Mud (3:10)
19. Oh Gee!-Oh Joy! (2:51)
20. Why Do I Love You? (2:53)
21. Ol' Man River (3:01)
22. Our Bungalow of Dreams (3:03)
23. Lila (2:57)
A big thank you to bluesever @ The Blues That Jazz for active link.
This double-CD Japanese set is essentially the American Bix Beiderbecke, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 -- originally on the Columbia label -- combined in one package with session information in English.
Thanks so much!
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