VIDEO TAPES
VIDEO TAPES
At
the Jazz Band Ball
Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him
Yet
Bix:
An Interpretation of a Legend Bing
Crosby's Road to Hollywood
Chicago
and All That Jazz
Remembering Bix Beiderbecke
The
Best of the Bix Jazz Festival
The
Bix Beiderbecke Story
The
King of Jazz
Lino Patruno Racconta la
Storia del Jazz: Bix Beiderbecke
Bix
Beiderbecke and the King of Jazz
the Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington, the Boswell Sisters, Louis Armstrong,
Bill Robinson, Charlie Wellman, Bessie Smith, Tessie Maize, Tommy Christian,
Ben Bernie, Ruby Darby, and, last but not least, Paul Whiteman and his
orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke. This is the only known footage of Bix
playing the cornet. A Fox Movietone Newsreel for the week of May 18,
1928, shows Paul Whiteman tearing up his old contract with Victor on the
stroke of midnight. Paul now has a new contract with Columbia and leads
his orchestra playing My Ohio Home. At one point,
during a chorus by the brass section, we see Bix standing up and
playing his part on the cornet. There are two transfers, one
normal and a second one with close-ups. This clip is also notable for including
the first appearance of Bing Crosby on film.
Brigitte Berman and Val Ross, and produced, directed, and edited by Brigitte
Berman. The film won the Bronze Hugo Award at the Chicago International
Film Festival in Chicago in 1981. By means of photo stills, narration (by
Richard Basehart), interviews of individuals who knew and played with Bix
(Louis Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, Bill Challis, Doc Cheatam, Charlie
Davis, Jack Fulton, Matty Malneck, Artie Shaw, Spiegle Willcox), and an
excellent soundtrack which features some of Bix's finest recordings, Ms.
Berman provides an effective account of Bix' life, from his early childhood
to his untimely death at the young age of 28. There are a few factual errors,
but, by and large, Ms. Berman managed to produce an informative and compelling
documentary about Bix.
film
was shown in 1991 at the Cannes Film Festival and was released on video
in 1994. The story and screenplay are by Pupi and Antonio Avati and Lino
Patruno, and are based on the life of Leon Bix Beiderbecke. The film is
a valiant attempt to provide a biography as well as an explanation of Bix's
tragic death. The recreation of the times and the sites is excellent. Many
of the scenes were filmed in Davenport, Iowa. Bix's house is shown prominently
in several scenes. The soundtrack, with Bob Wilber in charge of musical
recreations and arrangements and Lino Patruno as musical producer, is first
class. Tom Pletcher plays the cornet and his sound comes as close to recreating
Bix's sound as it is possible. Since the film contains in its subtitle
the word "interpretation" I should not complain about some inaccuracies
and some license. However, there are important deviations from the known
facts. Perhaps one of the most egregious distortions involves including
Hoagy Carmichael as one of the members of the Wolverines. Aside from the
inaccuracies, I have two basic objections to the film. The reasons for
Bix's addiction to alcohol and his inability to control it must be numerous.
The film oversimplifies what was obviously a very complicated picture by
focusing on the relationship between Bix and his family. The thesis of
the film is that Bix's descent into alcoholism was caused by the family's
disapproval of Bix becoming a jazz musician and Bix's feelings of remorse
in going against the wishes of the family. My second objection relates
to the absence of any explanation of what was special and unique
about Bix. Showing Bix playing the cornet and many of his fellow musicians
listening to him in awe is certainly not sufficient. In spite of its shortcomings,
the film is well constructed, and, to the uninitiated, quite believable.
The photography, the recreation of real sites and real events, and the
magnificent musical recreation are to be savored and enjoyed.
between
1925 and 1933 is presented. According to the liners, there is a "rare film
glimpse of Bix". I believe the author of the liner refers to the Fox Movietone
Newsreel (see notes under "At the Jazz Bandball") which is
shown in this tape. However, there is the possibility of another
"glimpse" of Bix in another part of the tape. In June 1929, Paul Whiteman
and his orchestra went to Los Angeles, ostensibly to make the film "The
King of Jazz''. Paul could not reach an agreement with Universal
Studios about the film script and he and the orchestra returned to New
York on August 28, 1929. During their stay in Los Angeles, members of the
orchestra were given Ford cars as a publicity stunt. In one portion of
this video, several members of the orchestra are seen monkeying around
in their cars. Could Bix be one of the guys?
1961, with Garry Moore as the host. The show consists of several segments
that feature several artists such as Eddie Condon, Bud Freeman, Pee
Wee Russell and Jimmy McPartland who were from Chicago and/or contributed
to the Chicago style of jazz. Bill Challis acted as consultant and wrote
several of the orchestral arrangements. There are two magnificent tributes,
one to Bix and one to Louis Armstrong. The Bix tribute has two parts. In
one, the soundtrack plays Frankie Trumbauer's seminal 1927 recording of
Singin'
the Blues while silent footage of Bix and several of Jean Goldkette's
sideman is seen on video. The second part has Johny Guarneri playing In
a Mist. The Louis tribute also consists of two parts. In the first,
we hear Louis' 1927 landmark recording of West End Blues
while still photographs and film footage are displayed on the screen. The
second consists of a film of Louis Armstrong and his orchestra playing
Dippermouth
Blues. The people responsible for making the choices of what to
include in the show were quite insightful. Undoubtedly, the two most important
jazz recordings of all times are Singin' the Blues and West
End Blues. The contrast between Bix's lyrical solo in Singin'
the Blues and Louis' virtuoso solo in West End Blues
is worthy of notice.
program
Jazz
at the Top, telecast on August 7, 1976. A group of jazz musicians,
some who knew and played with Bix, got together in Rochester, New York
to play a tribute to Bix. Jimmy McPartland, Joe Venuti, Spiegle Willcox,
Marian McPartland and others reminisce about Bix and play tunes associated
with him: At the Jazz Band Ball, Royal Garden Blues, In a Mist, China
Boy, Sweet Georgia Brown, Candlelights and Nobody's Sweetheart. Joe
Venuti steals the show with his wit and his unique jazz violin playing.
He sounds as good in 1976 as he did in the 1920's when he played with the
Jean Goldkette, Paul Whiteman, and Roger Wolfe Kahn orchestras, and with
the jazz genius guitarist, Eddie Lang.
Teagarden,
and Joe Venuti to mention just some directly related to Bix. I have not
been able to obtain a copy of this video, but I understand it features
Lino Patruno telling the story of Bix and playing with his Bix Sound
quartetsome
of the tunes associated with Bix. The video is based on a program originally
broadcast in 1981 for T.S.I (Television of Switzerland and Italy). Recently,
Lino Patruno & the Red Pellini Gang produced a video tape which was
broadcast on RAI-SAT Nettuno on Christmas 1998 and again on New Year's
eve 1998.
Television videotaped the orchestras playing at the festival in LeClaire
Park, Davenport, Iowa. For those who don't have a chance to go to
Iowa at the end of July to attend the festival, this tape gives a pretty
good idea of what it is like on the Saturday night at the Park and the
kind of music that the orchestras play. The bands change somewhat from
year to year. In 1996, the bands were the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz
Band (New Jersey), the Cakewalkin' Jass Band (Ohio), the Red
Sneaker Jazz Band (Iowa), the New Wolverine Jazz Orchestra with
Spiegle Willcox (Australia), the Natural Gas Jazz Band (California),
the Bob Crosby Bobcats (New Jersey), the Varsity Ramblers
with Ralph Norton doing an excellent rendition of Bix's sound on the cornet
(Illinois), the Gateway Six Jazz Band (Missouri), and the Blue
Street Jazz Band (California).
Crosby's
Road to Hollywood, Paul Whiteman and the members of his orchestra,
including Bix, went to Hollywood to film The King of Jazz for Universal
Studios. From June 1929 to late August 1929, the orchestra hung around
giving concerts and radio broadcasts (Old Gold on the CBS network from
KMTR) and waiting for an agreement to be reached about the film script.
Negotiations failed and the orchestra went back to New York. Bix's health
was deteriorating quickly. On September 15, 1929, two days after Waiting
at the End of the Road (which includes the last of Bix's solos with
the Paul Whiteman Orchestra) was mastered, Bix left New York for Davenport.
He spent the next several months resting at home and undergoing treatment
at the Keeley Institute in Illinois. Thus, when Paul and the orchestra
went back to Hollywood in October 1930 to finally shoot the film King
of Jazz, Bix did not make it. It is highly unfortunate that, because
of the inability of Universal Studio to come up with an acceptable script
back in July and August 1929, we do not have a filmed record of Bix playing
the cornet in a featured solo. There is no doubt in my mind that, just
as the Rhythm Boys, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti were featured prominently
in two of the seven revue numbers of the film, Bix would have been at the
center of one of the numbers. But it was not to be...
Through His Music, Bix Is
Alive
BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS
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