Background
The Bix Fest is a three-day music festival with many traditional jazz bands attracted from around the world. It is held the first weekend of August, to commemorate the anniversary of Bix's passing on August 6, 1931.
The fest has traditionally been held at several venues around Davenport, anchored by the LeClaire Bandshell on the banks of the Mississippi River. Currently, musical performances are held at the Rhythm City Casino’s Events Center in Davenport. Additional events include a Saturday morning tribute at Oakdale Memorial Cemetery. Jazz is played over Bix's grave in the Beiderbecke family plot. Also, on Sunday morning, a jazz liturgy is held at the First Presbyterian Church in Davenport. The church was the Beiderbecke family's home church, where Bix's mother, Agatha, was the church organist. A band from the festival usually performs at this event.
The festival began in 1971 when Bill Donahoe's Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Band traveled to Davenport, Iowa to play music at Bix's grave on the 40th anniversary of his death. [1] 2021's Fest will mark the 50th annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, making it the second longest running jazz fest in the United States behind only the Newport Jazz Fest.
The Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society was founded in 1971, to help keep the memory and musical accomplishments of Beiderbecke alive. [1]
Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. It is located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, and is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population estimate of 382,630 and a CSA population of 474,226; it is the 90th largest CSA in the nation. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine Le Claire and was named for his friend George Davenport, a former English sailor who served in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812, served as a supplier Fort Armstrong, worked as a fur trader with the American Fur Company, and was appointed a quartermaster with the rank of colonel during the Black Hawk War. According to the 2010 census, the city had a population of 99,685. The city appealed this figure, arguing that the Census Bureau missed a section of residents, and that its total population was more than 100,000. The Census Bureau estimated Davenport's 2019 population to be 101,590.
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Inc., as it is officially named, was established in 1970 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (NPO). The Foundation is the original organizer of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell Oil Company, a corporate financial sponsor. The Foundation was established primarily to redistribute the funds generated by Jazz Fest into the local community. As an NPO, their mission further states that the Foundation "promotes, preserves, perpetuates and encourages the music, culture and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs and other cultural, educational, civic and economic activities". The founders of the organization included pianist and promoter George Wein, producer Quint Davis and the late Allison Miner.
Festál is a free series of annual ethnically-related festivals that take place on the grounds of Seattle Center in Seattle, Washington. A major cultural program of Seattle, these festivals aim to celebrate and connect the city to its varied ethnic and international community. Most festivals contain various arts performances, dances, marketplace and other programs. These have also come to be the annual gathering place for ethnic groups of the community. Both older and younger people attend, especially the dances and musical concerts.
Bix Beiderbecke was an American jazz musician.
The Bix 7 Road Race is held annually in Davenport, Iowa, as a commemoration to Davenport native and jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke. It is followed a week later by the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival.
MerleFest is an annual "traditional plus" music festival held in Wilkesboro, North Carolina on the campus of Wilkes Community College. The festival, which is held the last weekend in April, was hosted by Grammy Award winner Doc Watson prior to his death and is named in memory and honor of his son, Eddy Merle Watson, who died in a farm tractor accident in 1985.
Young Man with a Horn is a 1938 novel by Dorothy Baker that is loosely based on the real life of jazz cornet player Bix Beiderbecke. The novel was adapted for the movie Young Man With a Horn (1950) with Kirk Douglas, Doris Day, Lauren Bacall, Juano Hernández, and real-life Bix Beiderbecke friend and collaborator Hoagy Carmichael
Nordic Fest is a weekend festival held annually in Decorah, Iowa, to commemorate the traditional customs and culture of Scandinavian countries, especially Norway. The event always occurs over the last weekend in July and often draws estimated crowds of 50,000 to 75,000.
African Americans in Davenport, Iowa comprise the third-largest black community in Iowa, with a history that precedes the Civil War.
Bix is a 1991 Italian drama film directed by Pupi Avati and starring Bryant Weeks. The plot is about the final years of cornet player Bix Beiderbecke. It was entered into the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.
Dixieland, sometimes referred to as traditional jazz, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band, fostered awareness of this new style of music.
The W.D. Petersen Memorial Music Pavilion, commonly referred to as the LeClaire Park Bandshell, is located on Beiderbecke Drive in LeClaire Park, Davenport, Iowa. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 1993.
The Leon Bismark Beiderbecke House is a historic building located on the east side of Davenport, Iowa, United States. The house is the birthplace and boyhood home of jazz musician Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke and so the house is also known simply as the Bix Beiderbecke House. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977.
LeClaire Park is a public park located along the Mississippi River in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is situated between two other riverfront parks: Centennial Park on the west and River Heritage Park, a new park that is being developed to the east. The 400-acre (1.6 km2) park includes monuments, a bandshell, a baseball stadium and it is one of the terminal points for the Davenport Skybridge. The Riverfront Parkway pass through the park. Other features of the park include picnic shelters, horseshoe pits and river access for fishing. Moored off the park’s levee is a riverboat casino.
Davenport Blues is a 1925 song composed and recorded by Bix Beiderbecke and released as a Gennett 78. The song has become a jazz and pop standard.
Atlanta's mild climate and plentiful trees allow for festivals and events to take place in the city year-round. One of the city's most popular events is the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, an arts and crafts festival held in Piedmont Park each spring, when the native dogwoods are in bloom. Atlanta Streets Alive, inspired by the ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia, closes city streets to car traffic to allow people to participate in health and community-oriented, such as bicycling, strolling, skating, people-watching, tango, yoga, hula hooping, and break dancing.
Numerous events and festivals are held annually in Metro Manila. They include:
"For No Reason at All in C" is a 1927 jazz instrumental by Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, and Eddie Lang. The song was released as a 78 single in 1927 on Okeh Records as by "Tram, Bix and Eddie ".
Bix 7 Road Race and Memorial Jazz Festival refers to a pair of related, but separate, events held on consecutive weekends:
