Bix Beiderbecke

1903 - 1931

Bix Beiderbecke was born in 1903, Davenport, Iowa into a prosperous, German-American family. As a boy, Bix had a few piano lessons, but he was self-taught on cornet and developed an unorthodox technique by playing along with recordings. He was a talented, but stubborn, student of music. Bix refused to learn to read music properly, a skill he only mastered after years of professional gigs. His family disapproved of his interest in jazz ,so his parents, Leon and Agatha, sent him to The Lake Forest boarding school in 1921; It was too close, to the hot jazz clubs of Chicago that lured him. As a result, he was expelled from the Illinois school. His parents made him work in their East Davenport Coal & Lumber Co. It held no attraction for him nor did the University of Iowa later. He was in and out of the school in a flash.

After several months working for his father in Davenport, he turned to a career in music. Beiderbecke split his time performing with groups in the Chicago area and working for his father in Davenport. By late 1923, though, he moved permanently to Chicago to work as a professional musician. He soon joined the newly-formed Wolverine Orchestra and made his first recordings with them in 1924. He was gaining a reputation in the jazz world as a talented cornetist with his improvisational style, delicate touch, his pure tone. This could have led to a solid job with the respected Jean Goldkette Orchestra, but Bix was fired after several months because of his inability to read music proficiently enough to keep up with the band's hectic recording schedule. Jean Goldkette kindly suggested Bix take a break from performing to get a more solid musical education.

Now 22, Bix enrolled at the University of Iowa and signed up for several music classes. his attendance in all classes was sporadic as he continued to pick up freelance gigs. After a drunken brawl with a school football player, Bix was expelled from his second school after only a few weeks.

In August of 1925 he became a member of Frankie Trumbauer's orchestra, where he remained until both he and Trumbauer joined Goldkette in 1926. His ability to read music had significantly improved by that time, emableing him to fulfill his obligations in the band. He continued to work and record with small groups and combos while with Goldkette. His renewd interest in the piano resulted in the recording of his own piano composition, ''In a Mist,'' which is considered a true masterpiece and a highlight of his career. Bix's other improvisational piano pieces were never recorded. The piano never replaced the cornet in his professional repertoire.

When the Goldkette group disbanded, in 1927 both Beiderbecke and Trumbauer briefly worked with a group led by bass saxophonist Adrian Rollini before joining Paul Whiteman's band, where Beiderbecke was often featured as a soloist.

Years of alcohol abuse, however, finally took their toll in 1929. His health rapidly deteriorated, and Whiteman sent him home to Davenport to recover. Moving to New York in 1930, he began drinking again. He performed sporadically over the next year, making only a few recordings and writing several more pieces for piano before succumbing to his addiction in 1931.

Tales of the legendary Beiderbecke abound. There are stories about how he was influenced musically by the riverboat jazz bands that travelled up and down the Mississippi River; how he threw a week's worth of wages on the floor in front of Bessie Smith so that she would continue singing; how he carried his cornet in a paper bag.

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. He died a week later at age 28 in New York City. The cause was pneumonia. His body had been ruined with too many years of drinking bathtub gin.

Bix Beiderbecke is buried on a hill in Davenport's Oakdale Cemetery, a cemetery his brother Charles once managed His brother once said: "It is amazing he is nearly as popular in death as in life."

Live Music Magazine 2006

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