This week on 12th Street Jump, we celebrate the birthday of Bix Beiderbecke with our special guest Barry Springer.
On the lighter side, Dr. Pearl is on the clock dishing out some advice and Mother Jazz tells a bedtime story to please jazz lovers of all ages.
Bix Beiderbecke was a mostly self-taught musician from Davenport, IA who became one of the most influential jazz artists of the 1920s. He played the cornet as well as the piano, beginning his career with a midwest orchestra called The Wolverines, then going on to play for the Goldkette Orchestra in Detroit and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in New York City.
Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong were two of jazz's earliest soloists, leading the way for generations of musicians and the development of the "jazz ballad" style. His main instrument, the cornet, became an unusual choice after many jazz musicians, including Armstrong, transitioned from the cornet to the trumpet. During his stints with the Goldkette and Whiteman Orchestras, he played on some of the earliest recordings of several jazz standards. For example, the last recording he did was the cornet part on the original recording of Hoagy Carmichael's much-loved "Georgia On My Mind". Along with great talent, Beiderbecke is also known to have been an alcoholic throughout much of his career. This is believed to have been a factor in his untimely death at the age of 28.
Find this week's playlist below, and listen to a little of the Bix sound via videos from Youtube.
http://youtu.be/q_3m4bbsLdc
http://youtu.be/oW7YYt0F-K4
http://youtu.be/hu7z4zRHzYw
http://youtu.be/saXmGDOtriU
Playlist:
Baby Won't You Please Come Home
Davenport Blues
Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
I'm Coming Virginia
In A Mist
Georgia On My Mind
Riverboat Shuffle