Report on Tribute to Bix, March 9-12, 2000

The theme of the tribute, as displayed on the registration buttons worn by all participants was “Cradle of Love”. I arrived late at night on March 9. Therefore, I missed the bus trip to the Historical Jazz Sites and the Cemetery Crawl (with visits to the graves of Johnny Dodds, Freddie Keppard, and Frank Teschmacher). Most of the day on Friday, March 10 was occupied by record sales. Between 3 and 4 p.m., John Schleffendorf presented an interesting and informative seminar on the Autograph Record label. John began his lecture with a brief introduction to the history of acoustic and electric recordings and then went into detail about Orlando Marsh, the Marsh Laboratories, and the Autograph label.

To illustrate some of the points he was bringing up, John played excerpts from his vast collection of 78 rpm records. I learned that the Marsh Laboratories were the first to make electric recordings. In the evening, the entertainment was provided, in the form of a one-man show, by the multi-talented Brad Kay, musician, performer, composer, and raconteur. He played the piano, sang, and told anecdotes. The audience was quite responsive and the enthusiastic applause was an indication of the approval by the audience of Brad’s unique form of entertaining. Brad did something very interesting with two of the selections he played, “Sweet Sue” and “I’m More Than Satisfied”. He sang note-by-note Bix’s solos in the two recordings to his own piano accompaniment. I thought the effect was spectacular. Brad did something similar with Hoagy Carmichael’s composition “Stardust”. To his piano accompaniment, he sang note by note the melody line of the composition. I had known before, and this has been said by several jazz historians and critics, that Hoagy found his inspiration for “Stardust” in Bix’s cornet solos.

However, hearing Brad’s presentation made me realize clearly and deeply that “Stardust” is a “Bix improvised (or perhaps a better word would be composed) solo”. Following Brad, Ken Crawford showed films from his vast collection. Several technical glitches took quite a while to fix. Phil asked Brad to entertain the audience while the problems were fixed. Brad, with his characteristic generosity, obliged. The audience was not at all reluctant to have Brad again on stage with his music and his humor and showed his appreciation with another loud round of applause. Of the films shown, I particularly enjoyed a good number of Fats Waller’s shorts. After the film show, most people went to bed, but the record spinners stayed up until 5 a.m. playing unusual and interesting records from their collections. Sales of records continued on Saturday, March 11. In the afternoon, we were treated to Brad Kay’s analysis of Ray Miller’s recording of Cradle of Love. This was a scholarly and stimulating presentation that consisted of facts, interpretations, and deductions.

In his analysis of the solos by the mystery cornetist in the two takes of Cradle of Love, Brad discussed several characteristic features of Bix’s extemporaneous improvisations-compositions and illustrated them by playing Bix’s solos from several of his recordings. Some of the discussion is available in a series of letters from Brad to the Editor of Joslin’s Jazz Journal. The text of the complete letters has been posted and can be read by clicking here. The lecture was presented with flair and a sense of humor which did not detract from the high intellectual content of the lecture. In fact, it helped people keep their concentration on the intricate details of Brad’s masterful analysis. The piece de resistance in Brad’s lecture was his novel approach to record simultaneously two different takes of the same recording in perfect synchronization. The two takes were recorded simultaneously, one dubbed to mini-disc and the other on the turntable. Brad adjusted the speed of his turntable up or down in increments of .1 percent, enabling him to keep the synchronization. Brad presented examples from solos by Louis Armstrong, Frankie Trumbauer, Jack Teagarden, and, of course, Bix.

In this manner, differences between solos in alternate takes are clearly discerned. It was apparent that solos from different takes by Trumbauer and Armstrong were mostly the superimposition of identical notes. In contrast, Bix’s solos in different takes are never the same. Although we knew this all along, Brad’s technique brought out the differences in a dramatic manner. Of course, the solos from different takes harmonize with each other because they are constructed over the same set of chords. But there was even more to learn about Bix’s solos: they complement each other. It was as if Bix was listening to the first take when he was recording the second and “accompanied” himself. With the two solos coming separately in the two speakers of the sound system, on occasion, it sounded like Bix was doing a “chase chorus” with himself. According to Bray, the only other musician who came close to what Bix was doing in different takes was Jack Teagarden. The important lesson to be learned from this interesting and novel technical analysis, as far as the identity of the mystery cornetist is concerned, is that the solos are not only different, but they complement each other in certain sections, just as Bix’s authentic solos. This finding, when combined with all the evidence presented previously (click Cradle of Love), provides a compelling case in favor of the hypothesis that Bix is indeed the mystery cornetist. However, I must point out that Brad clearly emphasized that the main purpose of his previous and present analyses of the two takes of Cradle of Love is not to find the identity of the mystery cornetist. Rather, Brad feels that the most important contribution of his analysis is to obtain an insight into the creative process in general and Bix’s compositional genius, in particular. After Brad’s presentation, Phil asked for a show of hands about the identity of the mystery cornetist. In an audience of nearly 100 people, three did not think the cornetist was Bix (interestingly, the three were professional musicians), six could not make up their minds, and the remaining, including myself, believed that the mystery cornetist was Bix. Several people were highly complimentary of Brad’s lecture. “I’ve learned a lot about understanding Bix’s music.” “This was the most intelligent lecture I ‘ve ever heard at a Bix Tribute.” “I would have gladly paid $50 to hear this lecture.” In the evening, two bands took turns entertaining a highly enthusiastic and appreciative audience: Paul and His Gang from Sweden and the Red Rose Jazz Band.

The latter plays traditional jazz and hot dance band music. The former specializes in Bix’s music. All the musicians in both bands applauded loudly, but I detected a slight preference on the part of the audience for Marie-Christine “Kiki” Desplat, one of two cornetists (the other is Paul) in the Paul and His Gang Band. In particular, her vocal rendition of the classic “I’ll Be A Friend With Pleasure” drew spirited approval, perhaps, in part, because she sang the lyrics in French (her own translation; the “with pleasure” became “sans doute”). It was a very enjoyable evening for the audience and, I believe, for the bands too. The evening music was followed by another session of the “record spinners”. Sunday morning was free. In the afternoon we were treated again to the delightful sounds of the Red Rose Jazz Band and of Paul and His Gang with an interlude by Yves Francois and the Delegates of Rhythm. This band is rooted in the big band tradition. One of the musicians in the band is Frank Youngwerth, an excellent trumpet player and frequent contributor to the Bixography website.

The band presented an interesting rendition of “Cradle of Love” with a note-by-note reproduction of the mystery cornetist solo. One of my personal thrills at the Tribute was meeting Fran Fitzwilliam. Fran was born in Moline, IL, one of the Quad Cities. As a teenager, she danced to the music of local bands that included Bix, and she actually met Bix. She remembers dancing in the Coliseum, at Danceland, the Elks Club, and the Roof Garden. I showed Fran the classic photograph of Bix from 1921, and she said that that is the Bix she remembered, except in November or December of 1930, the last time she saw Bix “and he did not look well at all”. Fran said “We thought Bix played very well but we did not think he was anything special.” Fran considers herself a “jazz buff at special events”. She said that she thought she was having fun when she was 70, but that now, at 90, “I’m having even more fun.”

That was quite apparent as Paul and His Gang started to play, and she tapped her foot to the beat. All in all, the Tribute was a splendid way to celebrate Bix’s 97th birthday: great musicians playing great music, excellent lecturers providing enlightening and useful information, and just Bixophiles milling around and talking about the man and the music they truly love. Thanks, Phil, for a great birthday party in honor of Bix.