Bix 7 and Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival; Hot Times in Davenport This Weekend

He was a shooting star in the jazz world, playing long enough and well enough to leave his mark but his life was much too short. In Davenport, Iowa this weekend the Bix 7 road race will draw top runners and the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival will showcase top jazz performers and groups by the Mississippi river.

If you saw the recent film ´The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,´ you heard Bix´s music, a voice from the 20´s that lives on today even though he died at age 28 in 1931. Countless jazz performers as well as singer Bing Crosby are said to have been influenced by his improvisational jazz style, which fellow legend Louis Armstrong noted unique and unimitated.

The Bix 7 ran this morning, in keeping with Bix´s unique character it´s a 7-mile race requiring different pacing and with its own peculiar challenges. It attracts Olympic medalists and an international field of runners as well as amateurs and wheelchairs as it introduces the festive weekend of jazz.

The Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz festival celebrates the free spirits and musical heroes of jazz in the 1920´s and beyond. Bix´s own life ranged from sneaking up to Chicago to speakeasies to later playing in them, drinking bathtub gin and joining more commercial enterprises like Paul Whiteman´s orchestra. He faced challenges of poor health, alcoholism and even inability to read music, while leaving fellow musicians and audiences alike in awe of his talent and unique style on cornet and piano.

I knew one of Bix´s close relatives, grandmother of a dear friend, who told stories of Bix´s life and kept his cornet in her apartment. The magic of the 1920´s came alive in a personal way, and visitors to Davenport who enjoy the festival and race can also wander down the years to remember the boy who broke through barriers of health, habits, schooling and a brief life to pass on his gift and inspiration. The unique spirit of jazz, the American idiom, this weekend sets spirits free and brings inspiration to new generations of musicians who just can´t do anything else and be true to themselves.

The festival, begun in 1972, runs from July 23^rd through the 26^th, this year (2009) and includes nine of the nation´s top jazz bands at four venues as well as the Bix Jazz Society Youth Band, ´carriers of the torch for the next generation´ according to the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society. Food, refreshments, souvenirs, tapes and CDs will be available for visitors at all venues of the festival. The outdoor venue on the Mississippi also hosts the Rhythm City riverboat casino.

´The Bix Festival´, http://www.bixsociety.org/festival.htm

´Top Americans to Compete at Bix 7 Tomorrow´, http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2009/07/top-americans-to-compete-at-bix-7-tomorrow/

´Bix 7: FAQ´s´, http://www.bix7.com/2009/faq.php

´Bix Beiderbecke´, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bix_Beiderbecke