An Interview of Bill Rank and Gene Prendergast

The first Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Festival took place in 1972. Several of the musicians who had played with Bix were guests of honor at this event. Two of them, Bill Rank and Gene Prendergast, were interviewed by an unknown person. The original tape with the interview was an open reel tape in its box with the notation “Davenport, Iowa.” Marie Prendregast Brubaker, Gene’s daughter, found the reel in a box in her mother’s house and kindly sent it to me. Until I listened to it, we had no idea of its contents. At the end of the tape, there is a short piano number in the Bix style. Marie tells me that the pianist is not Gene Prendergast.

To listen to the interview (about 15 minutes).

I am grateful to Marie Prendergast Brubaker for kindly sending me the tape and for her permission to upload it to the Bixography website.