Solid!

Born

• March 10, 1903
• Davenport, IA

Died

• August 6, 1931
• Long Island, NY

Real Name

• Leon Bix Beiderbecke

Bix Beiderbecke

Legendary jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke was the first great white soloist. Self-taught on the cornet, his unconventional technique helped bring jazz music forward from its early mechanical period into the more expressive form of music it is today. Few could equal his purity of tone and his unique method of expression. Beiderbecke was a true original whose influence can be heard in the sound of many of his contemporaries, including Red Nichols and Bunny Berigan.

Born in Davenport, Iowa, in 1903, Beiderbecke studied piano as a child. He later picked up the cornet, playing with several local bands while in high school. Though he proved quite musically talented his academic progress suffered, and in 1921 his parents sent him to a military school near Chicago. While there he played with various local groups. Poor grades and late nights eventually earned him an expulsion from the academy in 1922.

For the next year Beiderbecke split his time performing with groups in the Chicago area and working for his father in Davenport. By late 1923, though, he had moved permanently to Chicago to work as a professional musician. He soon joined the newly-formed Wolverine Orchestra and made his first recordings with them in 1924. He quickly earned a reputation in the jazz world as an innovate and talented cornetist, and in late 1924 he became a member of Jean Goldkette's orchestra. Unable to read music, however, he was let go after only two months.

Beiderbecke freelanced during the first half of 1925, recording and performing both under his own name and with other artists. In August of the year he became a member of Frankie Trumbauer's orchestra, where he remained until both he and Trumbauer joined Goldkette in 1926. Beiderbecke's ability to read music had significantly improved by that time, and he was able to fulfill his obligations in the band. While with Goldkette he also continued to work and record with small groups and combos. He also revived his interest in the piano. His recording of his own piano composition, ''In a Mist,'' is considered a true masterpiece and the highlight of his career.

When Goldkette's orchestra broke up in 1927 both Beiderbecke and Trumbauer briefly worked with a group led by bass saxophonist Adrian Rollini before joining Paul Whiteman's band, where Beiderbecke was often featured as a soloist. Years of alcohol abuse, however, finally took their toll in 1929. His health rapidly deteriorated, and Whiteman sent him home to Davenport to recover. He was expected to rejoin Whiteman but never did, settling in New York in 1930, where he began drinking again. He performed sporadically over the next year, making a few recordings and writing several more pieces for piano before succumbing to his addiction in 1931.