DISSERTATIONS AND OTHER SCHOLARLY WORKS 

• The Bix Beiderbecke Story: The Jazz Musician in Legend, Fiction, and Fact. A Study of the Images of  Jazz in the National Culture: 1930-the Present.A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota by John Paul Perhonis In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, March 1978. 207 plus vii pages. The thesis consists of three parts.
  • Part I. Bix Beiderbecke: The Jazz Musician as Romantic Artist.
  • Part II. From Romantic Artist to Artist-Craftsman and Tough Artist-Hero: The Jazz Musician in Popular Writings during the Thirties.
  • Part III. From Romantic Legend and Literary Art to Critical Evaluation: The Jazz Musician in the Critical Establishment.
  This is an excellent contribution to understanding Bix - the man, the musician - and what historians and music critics wrote about him. The work is meticulously researched and documented.
   
• An Analytic Study of Jazz Improvisation with Suggestions for Performance.A Thesis Submitted by Dennis L. Moorman in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Education, Health, Nursing, and Arts Professions of New York University, 1984. 175 plus vi pages. The author states "The purpose of the study was to analyze selected jazz improvisation compositions in order to make specific recommendations for improvisational performance". The author selects 25 jazz improvisations. Four are from the 1920's, the remaining 21 span the years from 1939 to 1978. The first selection is Bix's 1924 rendition of Riverboat Shuffle. The author provides an in-depth, technical analysis of Bix's solo utilizing Gunter Schuller's transcription in his book "Early Jazz", New York: Oxford University Press, 1968, page 190.

• A Study of the Exchange of Influences Between the Music of Early Twentieth-Century Parisian Composers and Ragtime, Blues, and Early Jazz.A treatise by Geoffrey Jennings Haydon Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts, August 1992. 173 plus vii pages. In a systematic and convincing manner, the author develops the thesis that jazz influenced French musical impressionism and vice versa. The French composers are Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Darius Milhaud. The American composers are George Gershwin and Bix Beiderbecke. A detailed analysis of Bix's In A Mist is provided.

• De l'impressionism dans le jazz: Un etude de l'influence du langage musical francais du debut du siecle sur les musiciens de jazz americains, de Bix Beiderbecke a Bill Evans. (Impressionism in Jazz: A Study of the Influence of the French Musical Idiom at the Beginning of the Century on American Jazz Musicians, from Bix Beiderbecke to Bill Evans). Maitrise, Universite de Paris IV (Paris Sorbonne), 1993 by Philippe Fourquet. (Master's Thesis). I have not been able to obtain a copy of this thesis, but clearly it develops one of the themes in Haydon's treatise (previous entry), namely the influence of French impressionist musicians (Debussy, in particular) on Bix's piano compositions.

• Bix Beiderbecke: Analisi di un itinerario musicale. (Bix Beiderbecke: Analysis of a Musical Itinerary).Tesi di Laurea (M. S. Thesis), Universita Degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", 1996-1997 by Stefano Cataldi. 158 pages plus complete discography, filmography and extensive bibliography. The thesis consists of four chapters.
  • Chapter 1. New Orleans: story of the evolution of a language.
  • Chapter 2. From New Orleans to New York: jazz and the American song.
  • Chapter 3. Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931): the man, the musician and the development of a vocation.
  • Chapter 4. Bix Beiderbecke's style of execution: analysis of some recordings. Big Boy (1924), Tiger Rag (1924), At the Jazz Band Ball (1927), The Piano Compositions.
      The first chapter consists of a brief historical outline of the development of the Afro-American music. The second chapter provides a treatment of the structural transformation of the American song, its role in the development of jazz, and how it spread throughout the United States. In the third chapter, the author presents a  biography of Bix Beiderbecke. The final chapter provides an analysis of Bix's recordings as examples of his jazz style as well as illustrations of the musical forms utilized in the 1920's.
      The thesis is well-organized and provides interesting insights into Bix's life and his music. In particular, the analysis of some of Bix's recordings and compositions is fairly detailed. The bibliography is very extensive and complete.I am grateful to Lino Patruno and to Professor Marcell Piras for giving me information about the thesis and to Stefano Cataldi for providing a copy.
   
   
• Jazz and the Classics: A Study of American Crossover Solo Piano Works from 1920 to 1935. Ph. D. dissertation by Kristen Joan Helgeland, 313 pages, 1999, University of Cincinnati. I quote from the abstract, "This dissertation examines a small body of crossover pieces for solo piano written by American composers, both jazz and classical, between 1000920 and 1935. The composers include Geeorge Antheil, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, John Alden Carpenter, Zez Cobfrey, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Ferde Grofe, Louis Gruenberg, and James P. Johnson." The crossover genre, given the belief by middle and upper class Americans that jazz was vulgar, represents a refined version of jazz. I will get a copy of the dissertation and write some specific information about the analysis of Bix's compositions.
   
• Bix Beiderbecke: Observing a Genius at Work, by Randy Sandke. 52 pages plus 27 pages of scores. Self-published in 1996. This article is an excellent technical treatment of Bix's cornet playing and of his compositions. The article contains biographical information, but the emphasis is on the analysis of Bix's music. The book covers 83 "Musical Examples". The examples of Bix's cornet work span Bix's complete career, starting with "Fidgety Feet", from Bix's first recording session on February 18, 1924, and ending with "Georgia", Bix's last recording session on September 15, 1930. Bix's four piano compositions are also discussed.
      The following musical trademarks of Bix's playing are illustrated: dynamic shading; correlated chorus; running triplets; rhythmic delay; bending notes; use of grace or ghost notes; use of half time, double time and irregular rhythms; keen and advanced harmonic sense; flutter tonguing or growling; whole-tone scale; vibrato; half-valve gliss; tonguing; emphatic use of upper intervals such as the 9th and 13th; use of a half-valve bend on a cornet Db (C#).
       An indication of Randy's insightful treatment, can be seen from the following quotes. "Every note is spontaneous, yet inevitable." "One moment he sounds strong and confident, the next questioning and vulnerable"."The range of emotions that Bix expresses within a solo, or even one phrase is, I think, unique among jazz musicians.""There is always a poignancy to Bix's playing as if its beauty is too rare and refined, even to fragile, for this world."
    I strongly recommend this article to any serious and technically-oriented Bixophile.
  Addendum, 6/19/o2. An article whose content is essentialy identical to that of the booklet was published by Randy Sandke with the title "Bix Beiderbecke form a musician's Prespective"  in Annual Review of Jazz Studies, 9, 1997-98, edited by Edward Berger, David Cayer, Henry Martin, Dan Morgenstern, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers- The State Universituy of New Jersey and The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, Maryland and London, 2000, pages 165-260.
      I am grateful to Randy Sandke for sending me the article. Copies of the booklet can be purchased from Randy Sandke by writing to him at Randysandke@earthlink.net.

 


 

Through His Music, Bix Is Alive
 

Recordings
The Original 78's
Analysis of Some Recordings: Is It Bix or Not ?
Complete Compilations of Bix's Recordings
Tributes to Bix
Miscellaneous Recordings Related to Bix
In A Mist