When was bix beiderbecke born

He did not live long enough to become as well known to the public as he was to other musicians. Nevertheless, largely as a result of his tragic lifestyle and early death, he became a jazz legend. View all related items in Oxford Reference ». Search for: 'Bix Beiderbecke' in Oxford Reference ». All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice.

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His family was quite musical, and Bix began taking piano lessons at an early age. The lessons didn't last long because Bix learned quickly. Many say that he was able to play songs by memory after listening to them only a few times. After mastering the songs, he would create his own versions of the songs. When he was young, Bix would often go down to the Davenport riverfront to listen to the music played on the steamboats.

Some stories say that he would frequently sneak onto the steamboats to play the calliope, an organ-like instrument that plays steam whistles. When his older brother returned home from World War I in , he brought with him an early jazz record. Bix quickly fell in love with this unique form of music and wanted to learn to play it.

He borrowed a cornet from a friend and taught himself to play without consulting a teacher or a book. The unique sound and unusual style of Bix came about from this self-instruction. Shortly after teaching himself to play cornet, Bix began sitting in with local bands and breathing new life into their music. Although most people today would consider Bix a child prodigy, his parents didn't see the value of his unique talent.

They didn't appreciate the jazz style and thought he spent too much time on his music. To discourage him from devoting his life to being a jazz musician, his parents sent him to a military academy near Chicago. Bix didn't last long at the military school.

Not long after arriving in the big city, Bix found many other ambitious and talented jazz musicians. He was soon spending all his time playing music again. And before long he was expelled for not attending his classes. Bix brought his famous jazz sounds back home to Davenport. In he met another person who was also to become a jazz artist. Typical Wolverines live performances featured solos followed by multiple choruses in which all the instruments improvised at the same time, each chorus hotter than the last.

These extended hot sessions could never be captured on recordings due to the typical 3-minute playing-time limit of rpm discs. Young players in the early 20s, The Wolverines hung around Indiana University in Bloomington playing frat house parties and college dances before Bix lifted them up to wider renown. According to the Oxford Companion to Jazz: "Where Armstrong's playing was bravura, regularly optimistic, and openly emotional, Beiderbecke's contained a range of intellectual alternatives.

Where Armstrong, at the head of an ensemble, played it hard, straight and true, Beiderbecke, like a shadow-boxer, invented his own way of phrasing 'around the lead. Bix toured nationally with Whiteman, on and off until , when his poor health forced him to quit. He died in New York in and is buried in Davenport, Iowa. At the height of his fame with Whiteman, Bix found time to record with the small groups he loved, mostly in New York City during breaks in the busy Whiteman touring schedule.

Even as a boy, Bix made headlines with his music. When he was five, Bix could play the piano by ear. One day, Bix borrowed a dented cornet from a friend down the street and was hooked. He sat in the family parlor and taught himself how to play by listening to the jazz records his older brother had brought home. By the time Bix was 17, it was Things were changing — the Jazz Age began to sizzle. Bix loved it and when he was 18, he got his first job playing on a riverboat.

He was so obsessed with music he did not do well in school. This disappointed his parents and in they shipped him off to Lake Forrest Academy near Chicago, away from the temptation to play jazz.