Bix Beiderbecke - At The Jazzband Ball

Bix Beiderbecke was one of the great jazz musicians of the 20's; he was also a child of the Jazz Age who died very young due to alcohol abuse. In 1923 Beiderbecke joined the Wolverine Orchestra and recorded with them the following year. Bix was influenced by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, but soon surpassed their playing. In late 1924 Bix left the Wolverines to join Jean Goldkette's Orchestra, but his inability to read music eventually made him lose the job. In 1926 he worked with Frankie Trumbauer's Orchestra. He rejoined Jean Goldkette's Orchestra briefly, before signing up as a soloist with Paul Whiteman's Orchestra. Nevertheless, In 1929 Bix's drinking began to catch up with him. He suffered from delirium tremens and he had a nervous breakdown while playing with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Whiteman was very kind to Bix, keeping him on full pay long after his breakdown, and promised him that his chair was always open in the Whiteman Orchestra, but, Bix was never the same again, and never rejoined the band. He returned to New York in 1930 and made a few more records with his friend Hoagy Carmichael and under the name of Bix Beiderbecke and his Orchestra. The piece (recording courtesy of bixbix81) presented here belongs to a recording session in 1927. It should be noted that I had to change spelling of the title since otherwise DM filters had a problem with it.