Bix Beiderbecke

Birth name: Leon Bismark Beiderbecke
Born: March 10. 1903
Origin: Davenport, Iowa, U.S.
Died: August 6, 1931 (aged 28)
Genre(s): Jazz / Dixieland
Occupation(s): Musician / composer
Instrument(s): Cornet, Piano
Years active: 1924-1931

Bix Beiderbecke was a legendary American jazz cornetist, and composer, as well as a skilled classical and jazz pianist. One of the leading names in '20s jazz, Beiderbecke's career was cut short by chronic poor health, exacerbated by his alcoholism.

Early life

Beiderbecke was born in Davenport, Iowa to a middle-class family. As a teenager he would sneak off to the banks of the Mississippi to listen to bands play on the coming from the south.

Illness often kept Beiderbecke out of school, and his 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 to improve his academic schooling.


The change of scenery 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 often to catch the hot jazz bands at the clubs and speakeasies around Chicago, and often he did not return to his dormitory before curfew or was still off-campus the next day.

Beiderbecke was asked to leave the academy due to his academic failings and extracurricular activities in Chicago, and with his time now free he began his musical career.

Beiderbecke in a Gennett 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).

Career

Beiderbecke first recorded with his band the Wolverine Orchestra in 1924. They were usually called the Wolverines, named for "Wolverine Blues" by Jelly Roll Morton because they played it so often. He 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. Beiderbecke then moved 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 Marian McPartland, Dill Jones and Ralph Sutton.

Death

Beiderbecke had suffered health problems from an early age and his health declined further in his adult years. He toured relentlessly, and consumed excessive alcohol, much of it low quality, and often somewhat poison Prohibition Era alcohol. As a result, his stage performances began to suffer. Paul Whiteman was so frustrated with his behavior that he wrote on a sheet music arrangement form the note "Wake up, Bix."

His spirits also suffered due to declining work around the New York City area. In 1929 bandleader Paul Whiteman sent Beiderbecke back home to Davenport, Iowa, to recover from a breakdown (caused by alcoholism, related physical problems and the stress of touring). His treatment was successful, but failed later. Bix was cutting an increasingly sad figure, and while he played intermittently over the next two years, when 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 last drinking binge. It was there that Bix Beiderbecke died alone on August 6, 1931. He was just 28 years old. While the official cause of his death was "lobar pneumonia" and "brain edema", Beiderbecke died of an alcoholic seizure during delirium tremens.

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 before the official time that the 21st Amendment went into effect), so up to the time that Bix went on his final bender he very likely drank large quantities of bathtub gin with Rotgut properties, since the most readily available alcohol at that time was illegal spirits, as opposed to industrial spirits that were illegally imported.

Beiderbecke is buried in a family plot in Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport, Iowa. Although his penchant for imbibing was legendary, tales of the examining coroner getting drunk from the alcohol fumes are apocryphal.
Source: ~Wikipedia