A First Day Cover For Bix

According to the American First Day Cover Society, http://www.afdcs.org/, “A First Day Cover (FDC) is an envelope or card bearing a stamp which is canceled on the day the stamp is initially placed on sale by the postal authorities.” A First Day of Issue card or envelope has the stamp and the cancellation, e.g., the date and location. A First Day Cover has, in addition, a cachet, an image related to the subject of the stamp. The U.S. Postal Service designates one or more cities as “official. ” These are the locations where the new stamp is first released. First Day Covers are prepared by stamp dealers or by individuals.

“Celebrate the Century” stamps were issued for every decade of the 20th century. The 1920s decade, the roaring twenties, had fifteen stamps, some of which were related to Jazz: a flapper, a radio, and the “Jazz Flourishes” stamp. These stamps were issued on May 28, 1998, in Chicago, Illinois. The description of the stamp in the U.S.P.S. website reads: “1920’s: Jazz. Created in the United States, jazz was spread by radio and recordings in the 1920s. Among the leading performers were Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Joe “King” Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, and Bix Beiderbecke.” In connection with the issue of the Jazz Flourishes stamp, Lloyd A. de Vries – a staff member of the Virtual Stamp Club and producer of the Dragon First Day Cover cards- prepared a card with a cachet of Bix Beiderbecke. It is shown below.

A Commemorative Stamp for Bix

Previous Attempts. On January 20, 1995, Margaret Baumann, Secretary/Director of the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society wrote a letter of inquiry to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee of the United States Postal Service in which she stated:

We wish to promote a “Stamp for Bix in ’96” (note that I am paraphrasing this nice motto as the title of the present web page) to further perpetuate the legend of one of the great white jazz musicians”. Margaret requested information about application procedures. She received a rather non-informative answer in which she was appraised of the fact that “the subject you proposed is before the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee and remains under consideration. Moreover, she was told that “Proponents are not advised if a subject has been approved for issuance. A public announcement is made approximately six months prior to the year in which the stamp will be issued.”

The Society put a great effort into promoting “A Stamp for Bix in ’96” at the 1995 Festival. The theme of the Festival for 1995 was “Bix: The Chicago Years”. However, the poster featured the statement “A Stamp for Bix in ’96” and a facsimile of a 32-cent stamp with a photo of Bix (see the image on the right).

Signatures in support of the Bix commemorative stamp were solicited at several functions (Bix Birthday Bash in Davenport, Tribute to Bix in Libertyville, and the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival) between March 1995 and August 1995. A total of 1,792 signatures were collected and sent to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee. Unfortunately, the effort was unsuccessful: evidently, other individuals have proposed Bix as the subject of a commemorative stamp.

The answer of the USPS to Margaret clearly shows that Bix was being considered. There is additional information. On May 10, 1994, James A. Leach, a member of Congress for the first district of Iowa, wrote to the postmaster General a letter in which he stated:

It was with great joy that I learned of the consideration of a stamp honoring Bix as part of the U.S.P.S.’ musical series.

Please note my strong support of such action.” In response to his letter, Congressman Leach received a letter from the USPS in which it was stated “A stamp honoring Bix Beiderbecke is now under consideration by the committee.” I understand that Phil Evans, himself a postal worker, had sent in a nomination at some time.

I am grateful to Rich Johnson, Bix Beiderbecke Festival Music Director, for sending me copies of the material in the Society’s files about their effort to secure “A Stamp for Bix in ’96”. I also thank him for his support of the current attempt.

 

A New Effort

A few months ago, Mike Heckman asked me what had been done about a commemorative stamp for Bix and suggested that a new attempt was in order. I heartily agreed with him and we started composing a letter of nomination. We consulted the USPS website to find out about guidelines. The USPS established a set of criteria for commemorative stamp subject selection. The criteria are quite stringent and I understand that the members of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee are a rather independent bunch. We believe that our petition adheres closely to the criteria and we are optimistic. A copy of the nomination and supporting material mailed on November 24, 1999 follows. We need the help of all the Bixophiles from around the world. Please send your letters in support of our nomination to: Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee c/o Stamp Management U.S. Postal Service 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Room 4474EB Washington, DC 20260-6756.

IT IS NOT TOO EARLY. ACCORDING TO THE USPS, NOMINATIONS FOR COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS MUST BE SUBMITTED THREE YEARS BEFORE THE DESIRED DATE OF ISSUE. Please write us if you are sending an endorsement to the USPS.

Copies of the Material Submitted to the USPS

 

Michael B. Heckman

P.O Box 644 Pine Bush, NY 12566

Albert Haim

P. O Box 644 20 Three Village Lane Pine Bush, NY 12566 Setauket, NY 11733

November 19, 1999

Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee c/o Stamp Management, U.S. Postal Service 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Room 4474EB, Washington, DC 20260-6756

 

Dear Members of the Advisory Committee:

In May 1998, the U.S.P.S. issued a commemorative stamp entitled “Jazz Flourishes”. The description of the stamp on the U.S.P.S. website reads: “1920’s: Jazz. Created in the United States, jazz was spread by radio and recordings in the 1920s. Among the leading performers were Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Joe “King” Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, and Bix Beiderbecke.” The USPS singled out five musicians out of the hundreds who played in the 1920’s. Of these five musicians, two of them, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, have been the subjects of commemorative stamps. We suggest that Leon Bix Beiderbecke, one of the most important American jazz musicians of the century, be honored with a commemorative stamp to be issued on March 10, 2003, the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Leon Bix Beiderbecke was a jazz musician of world renown who made unparalleled, innovative, and lasting contributions to the jazz idiom, both as a performer (cornet and piano) and as a composer. Bix is ordinarily categorized as a jazz musician. That would be an accurate but superficial description. What Bix created was music of unique beauty. Jazz was the medium of his expression, but the music that came from his cornet and piano was comparable to lyric poetry. He took the brash, extroverted art of jazz and showed that jazz can be melodious and reflective. He is credited with being an originator of the jazz ballad. He took the polyphonic New Orleans jazz style and added the expressive and lyrical instrumental solo to it. These two innovations are among the most important components of Bix’s enduring musical legacy. The other components are represented by Bix’s highly original musical compositions and by his recordings. The recordings, although made when the quality of sound reproduction was somewhat limited, show that Bix’s cornet sound was beautiful and unique, that he was a musician of exquisite taste, and that he had a remarkable genius for extemporaneous and highly original improvisation. Leon Bix Beiderbecke was born on March 10, 1903, in Davenport, Iowa, and died in Queens, NY on August 6, 1931.

He began his professional career in 1923 playing cornet with the Wolverine Orchestra. In 1926, he joined the Jean Goldkette Victor Recording Orchestra, the most successful jazz organization in the Midwest. In 1927, he joined the orchestra of Paul Whiteman, the “King of Jazz”. During Bix’s brief recording career – it lasted only six years – he recorded with such jazz giants as Hoagy Carmichael, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, and many others. Today, nearly 100 years after his birth and almost seventy years after his death, Bix Beiderbecke has a phenomenal popularity and influence that extends beyond any geographical boundaries. Bix was an original. His technique and style of playing were unique and had a profound influence on his fellow musicians. Bix’s solo in “Singin’ the Blues” has been recorded note for note by several musicians of renown such as Rex Stewart and Bobby Hackett. Following Bix’s recording of the tune, almost every jazz player in America tried to emulate his style and sound. Bix’s recording of “Singin’ the Blues” is considered by most jazz critics and historians to be one of the two most important jazz recordings of all time. The other one is Armstrong’s “West End Blues”. However, even more important than Bix’s influence on his contemporaries, is the fact that he provided a different path than that developed by Louis Armstrong. A comparison with Armstrong, considered by many to be the most important jazz musician of the century, is appropriate because Bix’s musical creativity flourished at the same time as that of the young Louis Armstrong. Whereas Armstrong’s strength was his spectacular technique, Bix’s genius was for extemporaneous improvisation. Bix’s improvisational style introduced into jazz music a greater measure of classical structure and sensibility.

His piano compositions blend the idiom of jazz with the classical European tradition, in particular French impressionism. Bix’s influence in jazz was long-lasting. Many jazz critics and historians consider that Bix’s music is the origin of the movement known as cool jazz. Approximately one-third of the nearly fifty existing recordings of “In A Mist”, Bix’s most important composition, were made in the 1990s. Two jazz festivals totally dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of Bix’s musical legacy take place every year. Detailed information is provided in the attached documents entitled “Additional Information in Support of the Nomination of Leon Bix Beiderbecke as the Subject of a Commemorative Stamp”.

Sincerely,

Michael Heckman Albert Haim

 

Additional Information in Support of the Nomination of Leon Bix Beiderbecke as the Subject of a Commemorative Stamp

In what follows, we will list evidence of the recognition and honors bestowed upon Bix in recognition of his seminal contributions and achievements.

• The Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Society: Founded in 1971, is dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of Bix’s musical genius. The most important activity of the Society is the annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, which has taken place without interruption since 1972 in Davenport, Iowa, Bix’s birthplace. At the last Festival in 1999, approximately 15,000 people attended the festivities, which included the Jazz Festival, the world-class Bix 7 race, and a street fair. Orchestras from within the United States as well as from abroad play at the Jazz Festival. The annual festival is reputed to be the largest single event in the state of Iowa.
• In November of 1997, Bix Beiderbecke was inducted into the International Jazz Hall of Fame (IJHF):  “The primary mission of the IJHF is to preserve and perpetuate the sophisticated, multifaceted art form that is American jazz.” The National Register of Historic Places, a branch of the Department of Interior, is the Nation’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Included among the 80,000 properties listed in the Register, are National Historic Landmarks, Lighthouses, Libraries, Schools, and Mills. The National Register also includes about 15,000 houses across the United States. One of these is the house at 1934 Grand Avenue, Davenport, Iowa. This is the house where Bix was born. The house was entered into the register on July 13, 1977, reference number 77000554. We wish to point out that, “in order to qualify for inclusion in the National Register, the property must be of special significance to the Nation, the State, or the community”. Certainly, Bix’s house qualifies on all counts. Bix’s musical genius transcends Davenport, Iowa, and even the United States, as witness the number of biographies written abroad and the number of reissues on LP’s and CD’s of Bix’s recordings in the U.S.A., Italy, France, Germany, and England.
• Nine biographies of Bix Beiderbecke have been written: the first in 1958, and the last two in 1998. These biographies were first published in the U.S.A, England, Germany, and Italy. One of the biographies is part of the “Notable American Series for Young Readers”. As of 1998, there were eleven titles in the series, including “Smart Money: The Story of Bill Gates”; “More Perfect Union: The Story of Alexander Hamilton”; “Richard Nixon, American Politician”; “Mr. Civil Rights: The Story of Thurgood Marshall”; “Shattered Dreams: The Story of Mary Todd Lincoln”. Indeed, Bix is in a distinguished company. In addition, the novel “Young Man With a Horn” by Dorothy Baker “based on the music of Bix Beiderbecke” became a best seller and was made into a movie starring Kirk Douglas.
• Four Ph.D. Dissertations have been devoted to analyses of Bix’s music and life: two of these originated in American Universities, one in a French University, and one in an Italian University. Two of the dissertations emphasize the contributions of Bix as a composer by assessing the exchange of influences between American Jazz and French impressionist music.
• The 1990 film “Bix: An Interpretation of a Legend” by the world-class cinematographer Pupi Avati was shown in 1991 at the Cannes Film Festival and was released on video in 1994. The film represents a high-quality production filmed in many of the original sites where Bix lived and worked. The meticulous recreation of the music and period is noteworthy.
• Brigitte Berman, the award-winning Canadian documentary filmmaker, wrote, produced, and directed the film “Bix: Ain’t None of Them Play Like Him Yet”. The film won the Bronze Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival in Chicago in 1981.
• Bix played “In A Mist”, his most famous piano composition, in Carnegie Hall in 1928: This was part of an experimental concert presented by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra. This must have been one of the most satisfying moments in Bix’s professional life. At a time when he was becoming quite serious about musical composition and turning more toward the piano as the vehicle for his prodigious musical inventiveness, performing his own piano masterpiece in one of the world’s top concert halls was undoubtedly one of the highest points in Bix’s career.
• A poem dedicated to Bix was written by Michael Longley, a famous Irish poet. Among Longley’s poems, we cite “Cease Fire” and “Peace” (about the problems in Northern Ireland). In 1992, Longley received the prestigious Whitbread Poetry Prize for his work “Gorse Fires”. Michael Longley wrote the poem “To Bix Beiderbecke”, in honor of Bix’s genius for composition and improvisation.
• Forty-three albums or CDs that represent tributes to Bix by other musicians have been released in the last twenty years.
• Countless chapters in books and articles in magazines have been dedicated to analyses of Bix’s musical career: Perhaps, the most notable article was published in the prestigious Smithsonian magazine in July 1997.
• The Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa, and the Louisiana State Museum Jazz Collection in New Orleans have special areas devoted to audio-visual exhibits of Bix’s musical instruments, photographs, and biographical information.
• The distinguished composer Lalo Schiffrin wrote a symphonic piece – Rhapsody for Bix – as a tribute to Bix’s musical genius: The premiere performance of the composition took place in Davenport, Iowa in 1996.
• Radio stations throughout the country celebrate Bix’s birthday every year by having special programs devoted to his music: The most outstanding example comes from the radio station of Columbia University, WKCR, which broadcasts 24 hours of Bix’s music every March 10, the date of Bix’s birthday.
• Several stage and television shows throughout the years have been devoted to remembering and honoring Bix’s musical genius: Chicago and All That Jazz, a Dupont Show of the Week telecast on NBC on November 26, 1961, with Garry Moore as the host consists of several segments that feature several artists who were from Chicago and/or contributed to the Chicago style of jazz. The highlights of the show are two magnificent tributes, one to Bix and one to Louis Armstrong, the two most influential musicians in developing the Chicago style of jazz. PBS telecast on August 7, 1976, a program entitled Jazz at the Top, Remembering Bix Beiderbecke. The 1999 Ascona (Switzerland) Jazz Festival featured tributes to three giants of jazz, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, and Jelly Roll Morton.

Additional information can be found on a website entitled “Bix Beiderbecke Resources: A Bixography”. The URL is http://ms.cc.sunysb.edu/~alhaim/index.html

 

Additional letter to the Committee

Albert Haim – 20 Three Village Lane Setauket, NY 11733

February 22, 2002 Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee c/o Stamp Management, U.S. Postal Service 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Room 4474EB, Washington, DC 20260-6756

Dear Members of the Advisory Committee:

On November 19, 1999, Michael Heckman and I submitted a letter of nomination of Leon Bix Beiderbecke as the subject of a commemorative stamp to be issued on March 6, 2003, the 100th anniversary of his birthday.

I recently became aware of two important pieces of information in support of our nomination. In our previous letter, we highlighted Bix’s cornet solo in the recording of “Singin’ the Blues” by Frank Trumbauer and his orchestra and Bix’s piano solo recording of his own composition “In A Mist.” We discovered strong supporting evidence for the seminal importance of the two recordings.

The Grammy organization has several types of awards. One of these is the “Grammy Hall of Fame Award.” As described on the grammy.com website, “The GRAMMY Hall of Fame was established by the Recording Academy’s National Trustees in 1973 to honor early recordings of lasting, qualitative or historical significance that were released more than 25 years ago. Winners are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of the recording arts.” Two of the entries in the list of awards read as follows.

• SINGIN’ THE BLUES Inducted 1977 Frankie Trumbauer And His Orchestra Featuring Bix Beiderbecke On Cornet Okeh Jazz 1927
• IN A MIST (Piano Solo) Inducted 1980 Bix Beiderbecke Okeh Jazz 1927

An additional piece of information must be brought up to recognize the significance of the two Grammy Hall of Fame Awards. Bix Beiderbecke’s recording career covered the years 1924-1930. During that period, six records in the jazz genre were honored. Two of these are Bix’s. Clearly, the induction of the recordings “Singin’ the Blues” and “In A Mist” to the Grammy Hall of Fame bolsters our contention of the seminal importance of the contributions of Bix Beiderbecke to our American musical legacy.

Sincerely,

Albert Haim

 

Added January 11, 2003

The USPS decided not to issue a stamp to commemorate Bix’s musical genius. In response to this tremendous injustice, Brad Kay issued his own Bix stamp. It is very beautiful.