Bix: Man and Legend

by Richard M. Sudhalter

He was an American musical genius-and an American tragedy. Along with Louis Armstrong, he towered over jazz in the Twenties. And, together with Louis, he brought jazz to maturity.

Genres: Music, Biography, Jazz, History

512 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1974

Reviews

[Harold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bix's influence on subsequent jazz trumpet was profound. The MAJOR innovator was Louis Armstrong but Bix was another dimension added to that. Miles Davis always mentioned Bobby Hackett as one of the trumpeters he listened too. Bobby had a lot of Bix going on in his playing. Eddie Condon said that the effect of Bix's Cornet sound was "like a girl saying yes." Most musicians of that era summed it up as "Yeah..Louis and Bix!" This book is really well researched and with a great analysis of Bix's unique valve techniques - that third valve. At times it gives almost a day to day account of Bix's last years.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a prose style short on fuss, Sudhalter, et al., give us the life of Leon Bix Beiderbecke from its conservative beginnings in Davenport, Iowa, to its pathetic end in New York City, amid hallucinations of Mexicans with daggers. Bix's expulsion from Davenport to an Illinois boarding school, and his expulsion from boarding school to the burgeoning Chicago jazz scene are generously recounted, as are his precious few years of recording greatness. Bandleaders Frank Trumbauer, Jean Goldkette, and Paul Whiteman all make their appearances, while the centerpiece of the book is the few months Bix and his mates spent in Hollywood hobnobbing with screen idols and generally making mischief.

What sets the book apart, however, is its extraordinary attention to factual detail. How many biographies append a day-to-day diary of their subject's life? (Monday, Sept. 3, 1917: Bix enrolls in grade 8-A at Tyler School. His teacher is Miss Mildred Colby.) There's also an excellent discography and even a section on Bix's unorthodox cornet fingerings.

To what extent the man is to found under this pile of information is for the reader to decide. But the legend, for once, is asked to sit second chair.

[Lama · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is superb, it could’ve been the best book written on bix, but there’s alot of misinformation and unnecessary made up stories that ruined the book imo.