At the Jazz Band Ball
Yazoo 514. This videotape represents a transcription of original film masters from 1925 to 1933. It includes clips of the Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington, the Boswell Sisters, Louis Armstrong, Bill Robinson, Charlie Wellman, Bessie Smith, Tessie Maize, Tommy Christian, Ben Bernie, Ruby Darby, and, last but not least, Paul Whiteman and his orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke.
This is the only known footage of Bix playing the cornet. A Fox Movietone Newsreel for the week of May 18, 1928, shows Paul Whiteman tearing up his old contract with Victor at the stroke of midnight. Paul now has a new contract with Columbia and leads his orchestra playing “My Ohio Home”. At one point, during a chorus by the brass section, we see Bix standing up and playing his part on the cornet. There are two transfers, one normal and a second one with close-ups. This clip is also notable for including the first appearance of Bing Crosby on film.
From Restore Old Videos – Youtube.
Bix: Ain’t None of Them Play Like Him Yet
PBV 0779. A 112-minute documentary about Bix Beiderbecke written by Brigitte Berman and Val Ross, and produced, directed, and edited by Brigitte Berman. The film won the Bronze Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival in Chicago in 1981.
By means of photo stills, narration (by Richard Basehart), interviews of individuals who knew and played with Bix (Louis Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, Bill Challis, Doc Cheatam, Charlie Davis, Jack Fulton, Matty Malneck, Artie Shaw, Spiegle Willcox), and an excellent soundtrack which features some of Bix’s finest recordings, Ms. Berman provides an effective account of Bix’ life, from his early childhood to his untimely death at the young age of 28. There are a few factual errors, but, by and large, Ms. Berman managed to produce an informative and compelling documentary about Bix.
Bix: An Interpretation of a Legend
Rhapsody Films 9022. A 1990 film by the Italian cinematographer Pupi Avati. The film was shown in 1991 at the Cannes Film Festival and was released on video in 1994. The story and screenplay are by Pupi Antonio Avati and Lino Patruno and are based on the life of Leon Bix Beiderbecke. The film is a valiant attempt to provide a biography as well as an explanation of Bix’s tragic death.
The recreation of the times and the sites is excellent. Many of the scenes were filmed in Davenport, Iowa. Bix’s house is shown prominently in several scenes.
The soundtrack, with Bob Wilber in charge of musical recreations and arrangements and Lino Patruno as musical producer, is first class. Tom Pletcher plays the cornet and his sound comes as close to recreating Bix’s sound as it is possible.
Since the film contains in its subtitle the word “interpretation” I should not complain about some inaccuracies and some license. However, there are important deviations from the known facts. Perhaps one of the most egregious distortions involves including Hoagy Carmichael as one of the members of the Wolverines. Aside from the inaccuracies, I have two basic objections to the film. The reasons for Bix’s addiction to alcohol and his inability to control it must be numerous. The film oversimplifies what was obviously a very complicated picture by focusing on the relationship between Bix and his family. The thesis of the film is that Bix’s descent into alcoholism was caused by the family’s disapproval of Bix becoming a jazz musician and Bix’s feelings of remorse in going against the wishes of the family. My second objection relates to the absence of any explanation of what was special and unique about Bix. Showing Bix playing the cornet and many of his fellow musicians listening to him in awe is certainly not sufficient. In spite of its shortcomings, the film is well constructed, and, to the uninitiated, quite believable. The photography, the recreation of real sites and real events, and the magnificent musical recreation are to be savored and enjoyed.
Bing Crosby’s Road to Hollywood
By means of stills, interviews, music, and film, the story of Bing’s successes between 1925 and 1933 is presented. According to the liners, there is a “rare film glimpse of Bix”. I believe the author of the liner refers to the Fox Movietone Newsreel (see notes under “At the Jazz Bandball”) which is shown in this tape. However, there is the possibility of another “glimpse” of Bix in another part of the tape.
In June 1929, Paul Whiteman and his orchestra went to Los Angeles, ostensibly to make the film “The King of Jazz”. Paul could not reach an agreement with Universal Studios about the film script and he and the orchestra returned to New York on August 28, 1929. During their stay in Los Angeles, members of the orchestra were given Ford cars as a publicity stunt. In one portion of this video, several members of the orchestra are seen monkeying around in their cars. Could Bix be one of the guys?
Chicago and All That Jazz
VJC-2002. This is a tape of the Dupont Show of the Week telecast on NBC on November 26, 1961, with Garry Moore as the host. The show consists of several segments that feature several artists such as Eddie Condon, Bud Freeman, Pee Wee Russell, and Jimmy McPartland who were from Chicago and/or contributed to the Chicago style of jazz. Bill Challis acted as a consultant and wrote several of the orchestral arrangements.
There are two magnificent tributes, one to Bix and one to Louis Armstrong, the Bix tribute has two parts:
- In one, the soundtrack plays Frankie Trumbauer’s seminal 1927 recording of “Singin’ the Blues” while silent footage of Bix and several of Jean Goldkette’s sideman is seen on video.
- The second part has Johny Guarneri playing “In a Mist”.
The Louis Tribute also consists of two parts:
- In the first, we hear Louis’ 1927 landmark recording of “West End Blues” while still photographs and film footage are displayed on the screen.
- The second consists of a film of Louis Armstrong and his orchestra playing “Dippermouth Blues”.
The people responsible for making the choices of what to include in the show were quite insightful. Undoubtedly, the two most important jazz recordings of all time are “Singin’ the Blues” and “West End Blues”. The contrast between Bix’s lyrical solo in “Singin’ the Blues “and Louis’ virtuoso solo in “West End Blues” is worthy of notice.
Bix Beiderbecke and the King of Jazz
A 1975 BBC-TV special dealing with Bix’s Whiteman years and featuring the New Paul Whiteman Orchestra at its peak. Soloists include Dick Sudhalter (cnt), John R. T. Davies (as), Keith Nichols (tb), Paul Nossiter (clt), Harry Gold (bsx), and Chris Ellis (vcl).
Remembering Bix Beiderbecke
A videotape of the PBS program Jazz at the Top, telecast on August 7, 1976. A group of jazz musicians, some of who knew and played with Bix, got together in Rochester, New York to play a tribute to Bix. Jimmy McPartland, Joe Venuti, Spiegle Willcox, Marian McPartland, and others reminisce about Bix and play tunes associated with him: “At the Jazz Band Ball”, “Royal Garden Blues”, “In a Mist”, “China Boy”, “Sweet Georgia Brown”, “Candlelights” and “Nobody’s Sweetheart”.
Joe Venuti steals the show with his wit and his unique jazz violin playing. He sounds as good in 1976 as he did in the 1920s when he played with the Jean Goldkette, Paul Whiteman, and Roger Wolfe Kahn orchestras, and with the jazz genius guitarist, Eddie Lang.
Bix Beiderbecke
Domovideo 57855. This video, one in the series Lino Patruno Racconta la Storia del Jazz, was produced in Lugano, Italy in 1982. Among other artists honored in the series are Nick LaRocca, Jack Teagarden, and Joe Venuti to mention just some directly related to Bix. I have not been able to obtain a copy of this video, but I understand it features Lino Patruno telling the story of Bix and playing with his Bix Sound quartet some of the tunes associated with Bix.
The video is based on a program originally broadcast in 1981 for T.S.I (Television of Switzerland and Italy). Recently, Lino Patruno & the Red Pellini Gang produced a videotape that was broadcast on RAI-SAT Nettuno on Christmas 1998 and again on New Year’s Eve 1998.
The Best of the Bix Jazz Festival
On the occasion of the 25th Annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival in 1996, Iowa Public Television videotaped the orchestras playing at the festival in LeClaire Park, Davenport, Iowa. For those who don’t have a chance to go to Iowa at the end of July to attend the festival, this tape gives a pretty good idea of what it is like on Saturday night at the Park and the kind of music that the orchestras play. The bands change somewhat from year to year.
In 1996, the bands were the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Band (New Jersey), the Cakewalkin’ Jass Band (Ohio), the Red Sneaker Jazz Band (Iowa), the New Wolverine Jazz Orchestra with Spiegle Willcox (Australia), the Natural Gas Jazz Band (California), the Bob Crosby Bobcats (New Jersey), the Varsity Ramblers with Ralph Norton doing an excellent rendition of Bix’s sound on the cornet (Illinois), the Gateway Six Jazz Band (Missouri), and the Blue Street Jazz Band (California).
The Bix Beiderbecke Story
This program, hosted by Gene Shalit and Jim Hartz, was videocast on the Today Show, NBC, on June 25, 1975. Participants include Jimmy McPartland, Chauncey Morehouse, and Bill Rank. I have been unable to locate a tape of the show (I understand that it can be ordered from NBC Archives at $30 per minute). If anyone has a copy of the program, please get in touch with me. Addendum 10/14/00. Through the generosity of Stanley Twarog and an anonymous donor, I am happy to announce that you can listen to the sound portion of the TV broadcast.
The cassettes provided were incomplete, but fortunately, they complemented each other, so I believe we have the most complete soundtrack. The members of the New York Jazz Repertory band were Jimmy McPartland and Warren Vache on cornet, Bill Rank on trombone, Vince Giordano on bass sax, Johnnie Mince on clarinet, Chauncey Morehouse on drums and Bucky Pizzarelli on banjo. At the end of the program, the group plays “Blues for Bix”. I asked Vince Giordano if that was a formal composition. His answer (e-mail of 9/26/00) follows.
As far as I can remember, the “Blues For Bix” was just a made-up 12-bar blues that we jammed on without any music…it was made up on the spot. There’s really no melody, just improvised notes played over the blues chord change patterns.
I also asked Vince about the length of the show. I had the impression that it was a one-hour tribute to Bix. Vince’s answer:
I’m pretty sure the 15 minutes (really a lot of time for an event of old music covered on a TV show!) was all there is/was.
To hear the audio portion of the program, click here. I apologize for the limited sound quality; the program was recorded off the air by Stanley and by the anonymous donor; I did some dubbing and splicing. Incidentally, Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks will be appearing at the tribute to Bix in Kenosha, WI, March 8-11, 2001. The Nighthawks also appear every Monday and Thursday at the Cajun Restaurant in New York City.
The King of Jazz
MCA Universal 55119. Strictly speaking, this videotape should not be listed here since it is not about Bix nor does Bix appear in it. As discussed in Bing Crosby’s Road to Hollywood, Paul Whiteman and the members of his orchestra, including Bix, went to Hollywood to film The King of Jazz for Universal Studios. From June 1929 to late August 1929, the orchestra hung around giving concerts and radio broadcasts (Old Gold on the CBS network from KMTR) and waiting for an agreement to be reached about the film script. Negotiations failed and the orchestra went back to New York.
Bix’s health was deteriorating quickly. On September 15, 1929, two days after “Waiting at the End of the Road “(which includes the last of Bix’s solos with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra) was mastered, Bix left New York for Davenport. He spent the next several months resting at home and undergoing treatment at the Keeley Institute in Illinois. Thus, when Paul and the orchestra went back to Hollywood in October 1930 to finally shoot the film King of Jazz, Bix did not make it. It is highly unfortunate that, because of the inability of Universal Studio to come up with an acceptable script back in July and August 1929, we do not have a filmed record of Bix playing the cornet in a featured solo. There is no doubt in my mind that, just as the Rhythm Boys, Eddie Lang, and Joe Venuti were featured prominently in two of the seven revue numbers of the film, Bix would have been at the center of one of the numbers. But it was not to be…