About "Bix" Beiderbecke:

From Davenport, Iowa, Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke only lived to be 28 years old before succumbing to cumulative effects of alcoholism in Queens, New York. Though he lived a tragically short life, his impact has been a constant in the world of jazz for just over a century. A musical prodigy, his brief seven-year recording career produced some of the most avant-garde jazz records of his time, which had an immediate influence on the genre then and continue to inspire today. As Bix's contemporary and friend Louis Armstrong used to say, "Ain't none of them played like him yet!"

Truth turns into legend, and legends turn into tall tales. Over the years, many of Bix's friends and later "Bixophiles" glossed over important details of Bix’s life in an attempt to present Bix as a saint-like figure. Though perhaps they meant well, they robbed Bix of his most important possession, his humanity. A Tribute to Bix Fest follows in Phil Pospychala’s footsteps of restoring Bix’s story, making it something with which we can identify and take part in for decades to come.

March 10, 1903 Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke August 6, 1931