In this section, we provide links to sites that contain information about Bix Beiderbecke or to subjects related to Bix’s times and music. The Bixography website has a satellite website with streaming audio files. WBIX, the virtual radio station that transmits “on demand” the program “Bix is Alive”.
The Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society
Provides information about the society and its activities.
A Tribute to Bix
Provides information about the yearly event in Libertyville, Illinois, in celebration of Bix’s legacy.
The Big Bands Data Base
An extremely comprehensive site with an enormous amount of information about the history of jazz, bands (US as well as overseas), current jazz events, etc. The site is so large that even a description of the content would take several lines. Try it, you will learn a lot. The Red Hot Jazz Archive. An immense site that combines text, images, and audio. You can download and listen to over 3000 jazz sides (complete recordings, not just a few seconds) from before 1930. Sit back, download some of the songs, and enjoy!
The Wolverine Antique Music Society
A site dedicated to the 78 rpm recording. Text, images, and sound. A very instructive and beautiful site.
Bix 7
The home site for the seven-mile race that takes place the same weekend as the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Festival.
Norman Field’s Website
Consists of two parts. Part 1 has notes, comments, and observations on the 1920s/1930s Vintage Jazz, Dance Band, and other 78 rpm recordings, including RealPlayer audio samples, some quite rare! Part 2 deals with recent old-time Repertoire Jazz CDs I’ve been privileged to play on, plus comments about Jazz Festivals and other sessions I’ve been involved with recently. Here too are RealPlayer audio files you can listen to. I highlight the following pages from part 1.
- A complete list of the label credits on British Parlophone of all the 54 (or 55) OKeh sides on which Bix Beiderbecke is present. All but one were issued in Britain, which is 3 more than came out on OKeh(!) The reason for this listing is that British Parlophones often gave fanciful extra-label credits (sometimes incorrect!) in the earlier years, and these have sometimes been a source of confusion.
- Don Murray’s clarinettist’s short but startling solo in ‘Jazz Me Blues’, recorded in 1927 with his friend and colleague’s studio band: Bix Beiderbecke and his Gang. A rough transcription of the solo and the audio sample.
- Two brief examples (from 1930) of saxophone players copying the style of Trumbauer on record; this is encountered less often than one would have thought!
- Did Tram play the alto-sax as well as the C-melody on records? An article and three examples of where we believe this to be the case.
- A strange and hitherto unknown transcription of “In A Mist”, Bix Beiderbecke’s most famous piano composition, was made in London around May 1941. Played – not too well! – by a wind ensemble plus nova chord (an early electric piano). Hear this rare item!
- Marion Harris: prolific recording artiste 1916 – 1934. One of her last sides was recorded in London and is the famous vocal transcription of the Bix Beiderbecke classic ‘Singing The Blues’. Hear this lovely side for yourself!
- “Parlophone In The Bix Era”: Text and a dozen or so label scans of Parlophone records between 1923 and 1940, most of Bix items, giving an outline of this very important Jazz label at that time.
A Gallery of Photographs of Bix
The Indiana University Library houses The Hoagy Carmichael Collection which consists of an enormous amount of documents, photographs, personal effects, correspondence, sound recordings, etc. One of the pages displays several photographs of Bix and the sheet music of “Candlelights” with a dedication to Hoagy signed by Bix. The photographs have appeared in books and magazines, but the scans are very clear and the photographs are nicely framed. Click here. I am grateful to Dan Taylor for alerting me of the existence of this nice set of photos.
The Davenport Public Library
There are three pages with information about Bix.
- Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke Resources in the Library.
- A Brief Biography.
- A list of links to other Bix sites.
Mike Peters’ Website is Dedicated to Eddie Lang
Mike Peters is a musician and jazz historian. He has played guitar with Joe Venuti, Bob Wilber, and the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Company. Mike Peters wrote the liners for the magnificent set issued by Mosaic, “The Classic Columbia and OKeh Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang Sessions.” In the year 2002, the centenary of Eddie Lang’s birthday, Mike launched a website totally dedicated to Eddie Lang. The URL is http://www.eddie-lang.com Portions of the website are under construction.
All Songs Considered
“All Songs Considered” is an online music show produced by National Public Radio. The website describes the show as “a multimedia, online music program. You can listen to music while viewing images of the artists. You can also read text about the music as it’s playing.” Program # 4 included, among other songs, Bix and Tram “Singin’ the Blues.” If you want to see the video portion associated with the song, go to http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/archives/asc04/index.html#bix and click on the link “Watch Episode 4”. The Bix segment appears after about 12 minutes. The program was originally posted in July 2000. The page also gives a link to a 7-minute 1991 profile of Bix Beiderbecke from NPR’s Morning Edition.
The Bix Vigil
For the last several years, Bix fans have been gathering in front of Bix’s last residence at 43-30 46th Street in Sunnyside, Queens, NY on the anniversary of his death which occurred on August 6, 1931. In the year 2003, a plaque was unveiled and affixed to the side of the building where Bix died. Paul Maringelli and the Bix Beiderbecke Sunnyside Memorial Committee are the organizers of this yearly event. The music and gathering begin at about 7 pm in the All Saints Churchyard, adjacent to the building where Bix lived and died in the summer of 1931. Around 9 pm, the Bix fans, with candles lit, walk from the courtyard to the front of the building where Bix died and pay hommage to him by playing “I’ll Be A Friend With Pleasure”, one of the last recordings made by Bix in his much too short life. For additional information visit http://www.bixstuff.com/index.html
Sources of Records About Bix and Related Musicians
There are lots of well-known online stores that sell CDs, books, etc. such as cdnow.com, cduniverse.com, thejazzstore.com, amazon.com, ebay.com, etc. The list below includes merchants who place a particular emphasis on the music of the 1920s.
CDs:
- Stomp Off Records: Lots of recordings by modern musicians who play in the traditional style.
- Timeless: we particularly recommend their outstanding historical series.
- Vintage Recordings: Also lots of cassettes.
- World Records: excellent selection of traditional jazz, hot dance bands, big bands, and even some tangos.
- World of Gramophones: Links to sources of Bix’s videos, DVDs, and CDs. Includes links to streaming files of some of Bix’s recordings, sources of gramophones, jazz films, etc.
Second-Hand Records:
- AllJazz: auction and set sale items.
- Nauck’s Vintage Records: auctions and lots of additional resources.
- VJM’S Jazz & Blues Mart: a jazz and blues trading magazine. Auctions. Also contains informative articles.