Editing Bix Beiderbecke (section)

==Legend and legacy==

Critical analysis of Beiderbecke's work during his lifetime was sparse. His innovative playing initially received greater attention and appreciation among European critics than those in the country of his birth. The British music trade magazine "Melody Maker" published a number of reviews of his recordings and assessments of his cornet playing. In the April 1927 issue, bandleader Fred Elizalde stated: "Bix Bidlebeck (sic) is considered by Red Nichols himself and every other trumpet player in the States, for that matter, as the greatest trumpet player of all time". The magazine's editor, Edgar Jackson, was equally fulsome in his praise: "Bix has a heart as big as your head, which shines through his playing with the warmth of the sun's rays" (September 1927 issue); "The next sixteen bars are a trumpet solo by Bix, and if this doesn't get you right in the heart, you'd better see a vet…."{{sfn|Lion|2005|page=xiv}}

At the time of his death, Beiderbecke was still little known by the public at large, though his appreciation among fellow musicians and the collegiate set is indicated by contemporary news reports:<blockquote>To a large circle of those boys and girls of high school and college age whom a staid world likes to label "the jazz-mad generation," the news that Leon Bix Beiderbecke is dead will mean something, however lacking in significance it might be to their critical elders. "Bixie" was a symbol of that jazz generation, expressing its wistful, restless temperament through the medium of the unconventional dance music which constitutes its theme song. In his mind were conceived the wild, strange contortions of rhythm and harmony which established the basic motif of the popular music of a year ago.</blockquote><blockquote>....To most youngsters in college, however, the weird flourishes that "Bixie's" fingers executed on trumpet and piano were expressive. They could hear the lilting melody of youth that formed a smooth background for his fantastic caricatures in sound. Hundreds of young collegians who couldn't recall a strain of Beethoven or Wagner could whistle Bix Beiderbecke choruses. In the world of professional popular music, "Bixie" was an artist comparable to Kreisler in the field of conventional music. Paul Whiteman called him "the finest trumpet player in the country".</blockquote><blockquote>Perhaps "Bixie's" death at the age of twenty-eight also is symbolical of the futility of the "jazz-mad generation's" quest for self-expression. However that may be, if it is true, as some critics contend, that "jazz" music is establishing foundations on which a distinctive and thoroughly legitimate American music eventually will be built, Bix Beiderbecke has left his mark on the future culture of the nation.<ref>Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette and Republican, August 11, 1931, cited in the Bixography Forum [https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bixography/obituary-death-record-clipping-from-cedar-rapids-e-t10145.html]</ref></blockquote>One of the first serious, analytical obituaries to have been published in the months after his death was by the French jazz writer [[Hugues Panassié]]. The notice appeared in October 1931.{{sfn|Blumenthal|2000|page=99}}

The ''[[The New Republic|New Republic]]'' critic [[Otis Ferguson]] wrote two short articles for the magazine, "Young Man with a Horn"<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Ferguson |first1=Otis |author1-link=Otis Ferguson |title=Young Man with a Horn |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-republic_1936-07-29_87_1130/page/354/ |pages=354–355 |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |access-date=1 October 2022 |date=29 July 1936 |ref=none}}</ref> and "Young Man with a Horn Again",<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Ferguson |first1=Otis |author1-link=Otis Ferguson |title=Young Man with a Horn Again |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-republic_1940-11-18_103_1355/page/692/ |pages=692–695 |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |access-date=1 October 2022 |date=18 November 1940}}</ref> that worked to revive interest not only in Beiderbecke's music but also in his biography. Beiderbecke "lived very briefly […] in what might be called the servants' entrance to art", Ferguson wrote. "His story is a good story, quite humble and right."{{sfn|Ferguson|1936|page=19}} The romantic notion of the short-lived, doomed jazz genius can be traced back at least as far as Beiderbecke, and lived on in [[Glenn Miller]], [[Charlie Parker]], [[Billie Holiday]], [[Jaco Pastorius]] and many more.{{sfn|Blumenthal|2000|page=99}}

Ferguson's sense of what was "right" became the basis for the Beiderbecke Romantic legend, which has traditionally emphasized the musician's Iowa roots, his often careless dress, his difficulty sight reading, the purity of his tone, his drinking, and his early death. These themes were repeated by Beiderbecke's friends in various memoirs, including ''The Stardust Road'' (1946) and ''Sometimes I Wonder'' (1965) by Hoagy Carmichael, ''Really the Blues'' (1946) by [[Mezz Mezzrow]],{{sfn|Mezzrow|Wolfe|1998}} and ''We Called It Music'' (1947) by [[Eddie Condon]]. Beiderbecke was portrayed as a tragic genius along the lines of [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]. "For his talent there were no conservatories to get stuffy in, no high-trumpet didoes to be learned doggedly, note-perfect as written," Ferguson wrote, "because in his chosen form the only writing of any account was traced in the close shouting air of Royal Gardens, Grand Pavilions, honkeytonks, etc."{{sfn|Ferguson|1936|page=19}} He was "this big overgrown kid, who looked like he'd been snatched out of a cradle in the cornfields", Mezzrow wrote.{{sfn|Mezzrow|Wolfe|1998|page=78}} "The guy didn't have an enemy in the world," recalled fellow musician [[Russ Morgan]], "[b]ut he was ''out of this world'' most of the time." [Italics in original.]{{sfn|Shapiro|Hentoff|1966|page=151}} According to Ralph Berton, he was "as usual gazing off into his private astronomy",{{sfn|Berton|2000|page=254}} but his cornet, Condon famously quipped, sounded "like a girl saying yes".{{sfn|Condon|Sugrue|1992|page=85}}

In 1938, [[Dorothy Baker (writer)|Dorothy Baker]] borrowed the title of her friend Otis Ferguson's first article and published the novel ''[[Young Man with a Horn (novel)|Young Man with a Horn]]''. Her story of the doomed trumpet player Rick Martin was inspired, she wrote, by "the music, but not the life" of Beiderbecke, but the image of Martin quickly became the image of Beiderbecke: his story is about "the gap between the man's musical ability and his ability to fit it to his own life."{{sfn|Baker|1938|page=3}} In 1950, [[Michael Curtiz]] directed the film ''[[Young Man with a Horn (film)|Young Man with a Horn]]'', starring [[Kirk Douglas]], [[Lauren Bacall]], and [[Doris Day]]. In this version, in which Hoagy Carmichael also plays a role, the Rick Martin character lives.

In ''[[Blackboard Jungle]]'', a 1955 film starring [[Glenn Ford]] and [[Sidney Poitier]], Beiderbecke's music is briefly featured, but as a symbol of cultural conservatism in a nation on the cusp of the rock and roll revolution.

Brendan Wolfe, the author of ''Finding Bix'', spoke of Beiderbecke's lasting influence on Davenport, Iowa: "His name and face are still a huge part of the city's identity. There's an annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, and a Bix 7 road race with tens of thousands of runners, Bix T-shirts, bumper stickers, bobble-head dolls, the whole works."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenationalbookreview.com/features/2017/5/11/qa-remembering-the-inscrutable-jazz-legend-bix-beiderbecke|title=Q&A: Delving into the Life of the Inscrutable Jazz Legend Bix Beiderbecke|work=The National Book Review|access-date=September 4, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1971, on the 40th anniversary of Beiderbecke's death, the [[Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival]] was founded in Davenport, Iowa, to honor the musician.  In 1974, Sudhalter and Evans published their biography, ''Bix: Man and Legend'', which was nominated for a [[National Book Award]].<ref>See Sudhalter biography at the [http://www.jazz.com/encyclopedia/sudhalter-richard-m-merrill Jazz.com Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080221200027/http://www.jazz.com/encyclopedia/sudhalter-richard-m-merrill |date=February 21, 2008 }}. Retrieved November 5, 2009.</ref> In 1977, the Beiderbecke childhood home at 1934 Grand Avenue in Davenport was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>See the NRHP website for [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/IA/Scott/state.html Scott County, Iowa]. Retrieved November 5, 2009.</ref>
A dance piece by Twyla Tharp was created in 1971 to music by Bix Biederbecke with The Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Originally entitled "True Confessions", it was later named "The Bix Pieces."
"Bix: 'Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet", a 1981 film documentary on Beiderbecke's life directed and produced by [[Brigitte Berman]], featured interviews with Hoagy Carmichael, Bill Challis and others, who knew and worked with Bix.

Beiderbecke's music was featured in three British comedy drama television series, all written by [[Alan Plater]]: ''[[The Beiderbecke Affair]]'' (1984), ''[[The Beiderbecke Tapes]]'' (1987), and ''[[The Beiderbecke Connection]]'' (1988). In 1991, the Italian director [[Pupi Avati]] released ''[[Bix (film)|Bix: An Interpretation of a Legend]]''. Filmed partially in the Beiderbecke home, which Avati had purchased and renovated, ''Bix'' was screened at the [[Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>[http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/73/year/1991.html "Bix"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118221541/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/73/year/1991.html |date=January 18, 2012 }}. [http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html Festival de Cannes]. Retrieved August 8, 2009.</ref>

At the beginning of the 21st century, Beiderbecke's music continued to reside mostly out of the mainstream and some of the facts of his life are still debated, but scholars largely agree {{mdash}} due in part to the influence of Sudhalter and Evans {{mdash}} that he was an important innovator in early jazz; jazz cornetists, including Sudhalter (who died in 2008), and Tom Pletcher, closely emulate his style. In 2003, to mark the hundredth anniversary of his birth, the [[Greater Astoria Historical Society]] and other community organizations, spearheaded by Paul Maringelli and The Bix Beiderbecke Sunnyside Memorial Committee, erected a plaque in Beiderbecke's honor at the apartment building in which he died in Queens.<ref>Gray, Frank (April 30, 2005). [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/apr/30/popandrock1 "Solo in Sunnyside: Frank Gray travels through Queens, New York, in search of the late Bix Beiderbecke"] ''[https://www.theguardian.com/ The Guardian]''. ''[[The Guardian]]'' Retrieved October 18, 2009.</ref> That same year, Frederick Turner published his novel ''1929'',{{sfn|Turner|2003}} which followed the facts of Beiderbecke's life fairly closely, focusing on his summer in Hollywood and featuring appearances by [[Al Capone]] and [[Clara Bow]]. The critic and musician [[Digby Fairweather]] sums up Beiderbecke's musical legacy, arguing that "with Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke was the most striking of jazz's cornet (and of course, trumpet) fathers; a player who first captivated his 1920s generation and after his premature death, founded a dynasty of distinguished followers beginning with Jimmy McPartland and moving on down from there."{{sfn|Fairweather|2000|page=122}}