4/18/2023 0 Comments Bix beiderbecke![]() The listening musician, whatever his generation or his style, recognizes Bix as a modern, modernism being not a style but an attitude. He knows also that this player is endowed with the rarest jazz gift of all, a sense of form which lends to an improvised performance a coherence which no amount of teaching can produce. When a musician hears Bix’s solo on ‘Singing the Blues’, he becomes aware after two bars that the soloist knows exactly what he is doing and that he has an exquisite sense of discord and resolution. Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Society members become part of a unique organization and give it life too many jazz festivals have stopped since 2010. Benny Green describes the solo’s effect on practiced ears: More than that, though, “Singin’ the Blues” has been noted for the way its improvisations feel less improvised than composed, with each phrase building on the last in a logical fashion. “Come for the cosmology, stay for the playlists.”Īnyway, this quotation (via Wikipedia) is spot on, even to this failed musician failed mathematician: I barely or distantly know most of the (deservedly famous!) jazz musicians you write about here, having closed my ears to anything non-“classical” through my fast-learning and formative teens and twenties, so pretty much everything is a novelty and delight which leads down long long listening byways. Recently, however, I came across a recording of Louis Armstrong talking about Bix Beiderbecke that shows I was wrong: BIX BEIDERBECKE GIANTS OF JAZZ: BIX BEIDERBECKE - VINYL LP FREE SHIPPING NEW 7. Given the description of that as “fictional” I assumed that Bix and Satchmo didn’t know each other well. Leon Bismark 'Bix' Beiderbecke (Ma August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Some years ago I listened to a radio play called Bix: Singing the Blues which is a fictional account of the only occasion in which Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong played together, in a private, after-hours session. Despite all his problems, Bix still gave us some of the greatest ever jazz records.Īlthough he was of middle-class white origins, Bix’s playing was deeply admired by leading black musicians of the day notably the great Louis Armstrong. His short life was punctuated by episodes of very bad health caused by chronic alcoholism in an era when the only booze that was available was bathtub gin or rotgut whisky. When discussing jazz, he said, “One of the things I like about jazz, kid, is I don’t know what’s going to happen next.Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke became a jazz-age romantic legend not only by playing brilliant cornet but also by drinking too much bad prohibition liquor resulting his premature death in 1931, at the age of only 28. ![]() As a cornet player, he played in ensemble settings and needed to fit within a more traditional style, but this made him play in a cool, restrained, thoughtful manner, which, along with his unique tone, set him apart from other cornet and trumpet players. Unfortunately, the combinations of hectic touring schedules and Beiderbecke’s alcoholism took a toll on his health, and he died at the age of 28.īeiderbecke’s solo piano playing and compositions are known for being harmonically rich and complex, incorporating whole tone scales and advanced harmonic ideas. Condon wrote about hearing Bixs cornet for the first time: Beiderbecke took out a silver cornet. He later played with the bands of Jean Goldkette and Paul Whiteman. In 1924, he played with the Wolverines his playing elevated them to one of the best white jazz groups of the era. After nearly a century, the music of legendary cornetist, pianist, and composer Bix Beiderbecke still draws awestruck admiration from fans around the world. School absences and drinking eventually got him kicked out of school, and he moved to Chicago to pursue a career in music. While his family disapproved of jazz, the school was near a train station, and the young Beiderbecke spent his nights taking the train to Chicago to hear Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and Louis Armstrong. They sent him to study at the Lake Forest Academy. ![]() The parents weren’t professional musicians, but music was often heard in the home. The Beiderbecke family was Midwestern upper-middle class. His subtle, beautiful horn tone and unusual musical ideas. Most jazz trumpet players cite one of two main influences: the hot, flashy Louis Armstrong or the cool, thoughtful Bix Beiderbecke. Celebrating 100 years since the birth of cornet player Bix Beiderbecke in 1903. Played melodies that no one else had thought ofīeiderbecke is remembered for his piano and trumpet/ cornet playing.
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