Bix Beiderbecke Biography and Album Guide

Classic Rock and Roots

Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist, and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical approach and purity of tone, with such clarity of sound that one contemporary famously described it like "shooting bullets at a bell”.   His solos on seminal recordings such as "Singin' the Blues" and "I'm Coming, Virginia" (both 1927) demonstrate a gift for extended improvisation that heralded the jazz ballad style, in which jazz solos are an integral part of the composition.

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00:00Big Spiderbeck, born in Davenport, Iowa in 1903, is generally regarded as the greatest

00:07white jazz cornetist of all time. His playing was soft and lyrical, unlike the hot playing

00:14of contemporaries such as Louis Armstrong. His tragic death from the effects of alcoholism

00:21at the age of 28 would see him become the archetype of the self-destructive jazz genius.

00:28That archetype would be seen in the coming decades with the early demises of jazz greats

00:34such as Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and others. Beiderbeck started playing cornet in

00:41his teens at this early point in the development of jazz. The trumpet, now so ubiquitous in jazz,

00:49was rarely used. Early horn players were generally cornetists or trombonists. As Beiderbeck's

00:57hometown of Davenport, situated on the banks of the Mississippi River, young Bix was afforded the

01:03opportunity to witness paddle steamers pulling into Davenport as they headed north up the Mississippi

01:10River from New Orleans. Often these riverboats featured jazz bands playing on the decks. These

01:17bands virtually poured out their music from the decks and could be heard far ashore. On one occasion,

01:25Beiderbeck was within earshot of the arrival of a riverboat which featured Fate Marable's band and its

01:32young, brilliant cornetist, Louis Armstrong. Armstrong was still just a local New Orleans legend

01:39at this time. Hearing Armstrong's playing aboard that riverboat filled Beiderbeck with awe and

01:46inspiration, and he dedicated himself to the mastery of his instrument. After a short stay in college,

01:54Beiderbeck, now in Chicago, joined a band called the Wolverines, with which he made his first

02:00recording in 1924. He then moved on to the Jean Golket Orchestra for a short stint. Shortly thereafter,

02:09he met his future collaborator, saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer, and joined the Trumbauer Band. In 1926,

02:17Trumbauer and Beiderbeck would both join the Golket Band. It was in 1927 with the Frankie Trumbauer Band

02:26that Bix would record his classics Ostrich Walk, Riverboat Shuffle, Clarinet Marmalade,

02:33and Singing the Blues. Following his stints with Golket and Trumbauer, Beiderbeck moved on to the

02:40Paul Weitman Orchestra. The pressure of the constant touring and recording with Weitman,

02:45and his worsening alcoholism culminated in Beiderbeck's death at age 28 in his New York City

02:54apartment. In addition to being a superb cornetist, Beiderbeck was also a talented pianist and recorded

03:01solo piano pieces such as The Great Side in a Mist. Among many fine compilations of Beiderbeck's music

03:09are the following. Beiderbeck, Volume 1, Singing the Blues, from 1990. Beiderbeck, Volume 2,

03:18At the Jazz Band Ball, also from 1990. And Riverboat Shuffle, original 1924-1929 recordings, from 2001.

03:30cotoryy1939.

03:41One.

03:49One.

03:50One.

03:55Two.

03:56Seven.

03:57Two.

03:57One.

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