| Bix Biederbecke |
Article Index for Bix |
Articles about Bix Beiderbecke |
Website Links For Bix |
Information AboutBix Biederbecke |
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( March 10 , 1903 – August 6 , 1931 ) was a notable Jazz Cornet player, as well as a very talented classical and Jazz Pianist . EARLY LIFE Beiderbecke was born in Davenport, Iowa to a middle-class family of German origins. As a teenager he would sneak off to the banks of the Mississippi to listen to the bands play on the Riverboat s that would come up from the south. Partially because of frequent absences due to illness, Beiderbecke's school grades suffered. He attended Davenport High School briefly, but his parents felt that sending him to the exclusive Lake Forest Academy just north of Chicago in Lake Forest, Illinois , as a boarding student would provide him with both the necessary faculty attention and discipline in order to improve his academic schooling. The change of scenery however did not improve Beiderbecke's academic record, as the only subjects in which he showed avid interest were music and sports. Bix soon began going into Chicago as often as possible to catch the hot jazz bands of the day at the clubs and Speakeasies around Chicago, although all too often he did not return to his dormitory before Curfew or was even still found off-campus the next day. Beiderbecke was soon asked to leave the academy due to his academic failings and extracurricular activities in Chicago which caused him to continue to violate the student life-on-campus codes, and thus with his time now completely free he began his musical career in earnest. INFLUENCES recording session with his Rhythm Jugglers, a pickup band formed -- and dissolved -- in 1925. From left to right, Howdy Quicksell (banjo), Tom Gargano (drums), Paul Mertz (piano), Don Murray (clarinet), Beiderbecke (cornet), and Tommy Dorsey (trombone).]]Beiderbecke's early influences were mostly New Orleans jazz cornetists. His first big influence was Nick LaRocca of the Original Dixieland Jass Band ; the LaRocca influence is evident in a number of Beiderbecke's recordings (especially the Covers of O.D.J.B. songs.) Other influences included Joe "King" Oliver , Louis Armstrong , and Clarinet ist Leon Roppolo . The influence of older New Orleans players such as Freddie Keppard shows up on Beiderbecke's famous two note interjection on "Goose Pimples." According to many contemporaries Beiderbecke's single biggest influence was Emmett Hardy , a highly regarded New Orleans cornetist of whom there are no extant recordings; several fellow musicians said that Hardy's influence is very evident in Beiderbecke's early recordings with ''The Wolverines''. New Orleans drummer Ray Bauduc heard Hardy playing in the early 1920s and said that he was even more inspired than Beiderbecke. Bix was also influenced by music that had hitherto been far removed from jazz, such as the compositions of Claude Debussy , Maurice Ravel , and the American Impressionists , notably Eastwood Lane . CAREER Beiderbecke first recorded with his band the Wolverine Orchestra (usually called just The Wolverines, named for "Wolverine Blues" by Jelly Roll Morton because they played it so often) in 1924, then became a sought-after musician in Chicago and New York City . He made innovative and influential recordings with Frankie Trumbauer ("Tram") and the Jean Goldkette Orchestra. When the Goldkette Orchestra disbanded after their last recording ("Clementine (From New Orleans)"), in September 1927, Bix and Trumbauer, a 'C' Melody and alto saxophone player, briefly joined Adrian Rollini's band at the Club New Yorker, New York, before moving on to the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, the most popular and highest paid band of the day. Beiderbecke also played Piano , sometimes switching from cornet for a chorus or two during a song (''e.g.'', "For No Reason at All in C", 1927). He wrote several compositions for the piano, and recorded one of them, "In a Mist", (after it was transcribed from his improvisations by the Goldkette/Whiteman arranger Bill Challis). His piano compositions include "In A Mist", "Flashes", "In The Dark" and "Candlelights." These were later recorded by (amongst others) Jess Stacy, Bunny Berigan, Jimmy and Marion McPartland, Dill Jones and Ralph Sutton. DEATH Beiderbecke had suffered health problems from an early age which contributed to the general decline of his health in his adult years. His relentless touring schedule and increasing alcoholism were also major factors contributing to his ever-worsening condition. Bix suffered from severe pain in his legs amongst other ill effects of his abuse of very low quality, poor grade, and often somewhat Poison Prohibition Era alcohol. His spirits also suffered as the result of declining work around the New York City area. It has often been said that a major contributing factor to his low morale was the fact that his parents did not approve of his playing music for a living despite the fact that he persisted in sending them recordings of his work in the hope that they would listen to the recordings and be won over by his performances and his fame. However, whilst it may be true that in 1929 bandleader Paul Whiteman sent him back to his home in Davenport, Iowa, to recover from a breakdown (caused by alcoholism, related physical problems and the stress of extensive touring) the much quoted myth that upon his arrival he found the recordings that he had been sending to his parents over the years stored in a closet still unwrapped is not true at all. Bix's family were actually quite supportive of his playing career and the enduring "never even played his records" story was merely the invention of a journalist exaggerating the tragic unloved hero angle because it made good copy. Having said that, Bix was cutting an increasingly sad figure, and whilst he would play intermittently over the next two years (whenever he was well enough to travel), neither he nor his playing was ever the same. In late July or early August 1931, he took up residence at 43-30 46th Street, Sunnyside, Queens , New York City, where he went on his final drinking binge. It was there that Bix Beiderbecke died alone on August 6 , 1931 . He was a mere 28 years old. While the official cause of his death is listed as " Lobar Pneumonia " and " Brain Edema ", Beiderbecke died of an alcoholic seizure during '' Delirium Tremens ''. No one can say with any certainty the role that poor quality Prohibition Era alcohol played in his death, but what is certain is that much of the alcohol of the time (especially the harder Liquor s) was of very questionable safety for human consumption as it was made without any industrial quality controls in place. Since it was all illegal in the United States there was no governmental oversight of its quality, grade, or contents (the exception being industrially produced liquors that were illegally imported from Canada and thus had some oversight during its legal existence in Canada). Regardless, most of the liquors were so-called " Bathtub Gin ", amateur home-made alcohols that were often dangerous. The production of bathtub gin was tremendous during Prohibition and continued widely until the Repeal Of Prohibition some 18 months ''after'' Bix's death (or until practical enforcement of Prohibition laws stopped some time ''before'' the official time that the 21st Amendment went into effect), so leading up to and including the time that Bix went on his final Bender he very likely drank large quantities of bathtub gin with Rotgut properties, since most easily available and plentiful quantities of illegal hard-alcohol at that time were illegally distilled spirits as opposed to industrially controlled and created spirits that were simply illegally imported. Beiderbecke is buried in a family plot in Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport, Iowa. Although his penchant for imbibing was legendary in his time, tales of the coroner who examined his body getting drunk off of the alcohol fumes and that the mortician who prepared the body for burial didn't have to do anything since the alcohol did all the preservation work for him are all apocryphal. They are certainly false rumours with no basis in scientific fact even, and there has been speculation that they were circulated to further discredit Bix's reputation by White Supremacist s at the time who felt that Bix was betraying his race by focusing his musical talents on, "the musical form of the Blacks and the Jews", as jazz was described by Klu Klux Klan leaders and members during the musical style's rise to popularity in mainstream American culture. There is limited evidence to support the charges of who started the rumours, but certainly the attitudes of such groups towards jazz remains well documented, and was in fact international in its scope such as the Nazi persecution of jazz and swing performers and fans. LATER INFLUENCE Louis Armstrong once remarked that he never played the tune "Singin' the Blues" because he thought Beiderbecke's classic recording of the song should not be touched. As he later said, "Lots of cats tried to play like Bix; ain't none of them play like him yet". The character Rick Martin in the novel '' Young Man With A Horn '' (1938) by Dorothy Baker is partly based on Beiderbecke's life. It was later made into a movie (1950) starring Kirk Douglas as Martin (with horn playing dubbed by Harry James after first choice Bobby Hackett -- according to some sources -- blew the job because of unreliability. It was later parodied in the BBC radio series '' Round The Horne '' as "Young Horne With a Man", featuring "Bix Spiderthrust". The most obviously Bix-influenced follower was cornetist Jimmy McPartland , who replaced Bix in the 'Wolverine' Orchestra in late 1924, and continued to pay tribute to Bix throughout his long career (McPartland died in 1991). Bix's influence was most noticeable amongst white musicians, but there were also black players who fell under his spell, notably trumpeters and cornetists John Nesbitt (of McKinney's Cotton Pickers ), Rex Stewart ( Fletcher Henderson 's Orchestra, Duke Ellington 's Orchestra), and Doc Cheatham ( Cab Calloway 's Orchestra). In the 1930s Bobby Hackett was widely billed as the "new Bix", especially after he reprised Bix's "I'm Coming Virginia" solo at Benny Goodman 's famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. Later Bix-influenced trumpet/cornet players have included: Ruby Braff , Dick Sudhalter , Warren Vache , Randy Sandke , Ralph Norton and (''perhaps'' the closest to capturing Bix's elusive tone and phrasing), Tom Pletcher . Miles Davis was fascinated by Bix's playing, and sought out people who had known and played with him. Miles's silvery tone and understated, "cool" phrasing clearly hark back to one aspect of Bix's playing. Beiderbecke's music features heavily in three '' (1984), ''The Beiderbecke Tapes'' (1987) and ''The Beiderbecke Connection'' (1988). HIS NAME There has been much debate regarding the full name of Bix Beiderbecke: was he baptized Leon Bix or Leon Bismark (Bix being simply a shortened form of the latter; a name that also his father had)? At least from the early 1960s onwards, Bix's living relatives (noticeably his brother Charles "Burnie" Beiderbecke) forcefully claimed that his actual name had always been Leon Bix, and this was accepted as a fact by Bix researchers Phil and Linda Evans. Other researchers, including Rich Johnson, have, however, presented several documents showing the real name to be Leon Bismark. These documents include church records from the Early First , which might explain the wish of the Beiderbecke family to claim Bix as the real name. (This question has recently been discussed in the Bixography Discussion Group) REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|