Singin' the blues

[Yuletide]

Can anyone tell me where to get a transcription of this?

[Rick Schmidlin]

I hope somebody knows, since this is as importent as Wildwood Flower.I love the music of Bix and once had a great conversation with The Dawg on this,Bix is up there with Bill for him.

[Don Stiernberg]

ALLRIGHT!

....now we're gettin' somewhere! I'm a freak for the BIX tunes too, grew up listening to them, love playin' them on gigs..

So are you looking for a lead sheet, changes, or the famous Bix solo? Offhand I don't know of immediate resources, but I may have some of those in my piles of stuff. The changes would not be hard to sketch out. That beautiful solo is another story. Rex Stewart used to reproduce it on Duke's band, a rare occurence in jazz, the verbatim recreation of someone else's solo, not copying, but a tribute.

Hey I just found the solo transcription! It's in a great Bix biography called
BIX The Definitive Biography of a Jazz Legend by Jean Pierre Leon. The solo is in there in stndard notation, concert pitch, with changes. Wow. Great book.

I hope I can help and please keep diggin' and playing those Bix tunes!I recorded "I'm Comin' Virginia" once, the playing of Bix and later Bobby Hacket on that tune is so sweet that I had to give it a try. Then there's "I'll Be a Friend With Pleasure" which I think defines swing, and "From Monday On" and...well, don't get me started, I'm "in a mist" already.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Hi Don,

BIX LIVES

[michaell]

Richard Sudhalter (a fine cornettist) also wrote a wonderful biography called 'Bix.' His music was very deep and intuitive. Unfortunately, his personal life was chaotic and difficult.

[Yuletide]

So are you looking for a lead sheet, changes, or the famous Bix solo?

# # Hey I just found the solo transcription! It's in a great Bix biography called#BIX The Definitive Biography of a Jazz Legend by Jean Pierre Leon. The solo is in there in stndard notation, concert pitch, with changes. Wow. Great book.

# # #
I'm looking for the Bix solo, of course. Thanks for finding it in the book: I can get that book through my local library system!

I always wish I'd been interested in this stuff 30 years ago when my grandmother was still alive. She was born in 1903 -- same year as Bix, I think -- and lived in Chicago (my home town, too, although I moved away years ago). She loved to go dancing and drinking in her youth, and did a great deal of both in the 1920's. Bet she heard some great live music!

[Don Stiernberg]

Yuletide--

I think I found that book a year or so ago at Borders or Barnes and Noble....the publisher is continuum, and they have a website www.continuumbooks.com. I'm sure your library could track it down, and the book is well done, lots of pix and notes. It is a sad story, the ending is the same as in all the other Bix bios. Still getting a sense of what streets he walked and who he hung out with is inspiring to those of us who find the music inspiring.
Dick Sudhalter's book is also excellent reading. He later did a huge book on white jazz players of the early era. I'll have to find that title, it was really great and of course racism was not the focus of his work by any means. And I'm sure Singin' The Blues was mentioned there too.
A CD you might enjoy is called The Re-Discovered Louis and Bix by Randy Sandke and the New York All-Stars on Nagel Hayer. These are compositions by both of these masters that were until recently un-recorded. Randy Sandke actually played horns that had been owned by Louis and Bix, and his command of their respective styles is stunning. One tune is an imagined summit meeting of the two giants, each taking choruses on a Fletcher Henderson chart. Thrilling! This is the stuff.
It seems guys with one name might be all we need...
Satchmo, Bix,Django, Duke, Bird, Dizzy, Jaco, Trane,
Miles, Wes...
Good luck.

[Rick Schmidlin]

I have Bix Restored The Complete Recordings and Alternates on 9 CDs in three book sets.It is released by Sunbeam Records and distributed bt Origin Jazz Library. Beware of all other releases including Moosiac which are not complete.Jeff Muldair relaesed a CD a few years back of un recorded BIX.The most complet book on Bix is Bix-The Leon Bix Beiderbecke Story by Phil and Linda Evens with over 200 photos and 1,000 letters.

Try this link if you really want to learn about the BIX world.

http://www.bixbeiderbecke.com

[Yuletide]

# # #It seems #guys with one name might be all we need...
Satchmo, Bix,Django, Duke, Bird, Dizzy, Jaco, Trane,
#Miles, Wes...
# # # # #
And let's not forget Prez ... and Jethro, and Dawg.

Thanks to all for much good info. Bixbeiderbecke.com is amazing.

[Don Stiernberg]

Rick,

If I'm remembering correctly, Phil Evans collaborated with Dick Sudhalter on BIX: Man and Legend, then for one reason or another was inspired to do another biography of his own,the one you mention above. I guess that's how biography works-people keep finding more facts or artifacts, and the books keep getting re-done. I've read all these Bix bios and they all have merit and cool revelations about the artist and his times.
I think there's a video too! A bio-drama if you will...
could be wrong, but I think Playboy was involved in the production/distribution, and it's called "BIX: Ain't None of Them Played Like Him Yet". Why am I telling you this? It's probably all at that cool site...
While we're here talking Bix, "Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down" seems like a nice alternative to the ubiquitous "Sweet Georgia Brown". "Changes" and "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain" have great progressions too.

[Rick Schmidlin]

There is also a feature film that was made by Italian director Pupi Avanti called BIX. It came out about twenty years ago.

[Yuletide]

Well, I picked up the book with the Bix solo from my library yesterday, and spent some of the afternoon fooling around with it on my mandola. It's more difficult to play than it sounds, at least for someone with my limited abilities. But it ought to be a good learning experience.

[michaell]

Mr.Sudhalter's other book is called Lost Chords. This is an excellent book that covers a very interesting subject, including information regarding the great Bud Freeman, and George Van Eps.

[Spruce]

This (http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Bix-Memoir-Jazz-Age/dp/0306809370/ref=sr_1_4/102-1909335-9145754?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176066393&sr=1-4) is a cool read, too...

The author knew Bix pretty well, and has some really cool stories to tell....

Anybody here ever worked out "In a Mist?"

[Rick Schmidlin]

According to many on the Bix web sight Ralph Bertons book has many questioned facts that appaer not true. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[Spruce]

Well, that would be a first wouldn't it? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

I do remember after reading that book how much I wanted there to be a whole LP of Bix on piano...
Mr. Hentoff raved about his piano playing...

[Rick Schmidlin]

In The Mist is a minor classic Geoff Muldair did a CD of Bix unrecorded music a few years back,it was hit and miss.But was a noble atttempt, what Bix mean to me is that was a first soloist to make a serious and long defining difference

[Joel Glassman]

You'll find Bix transcriptions & midi files on this page:
http://pubcs.free.fr/jg....tml#bix (http://pubcs.free.fr/jg/jazz_trumpet_transcriptions_jacques_gilbert_englis h.html#bix)

[jmcgann]

Cornetist Peter Ecklund has a nice book of Bix transcriptions as well as a Louis Armstrong book...

[Peter Hackman]

Well, that would be a first wouldn't it? # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

I do remember after reading that book how much I wanted there to be a whole LP of Bix on piano...
Mr. Hentoff raved about his piano playing...
I know there has been a printed collection of all of BB's piano pieces
(In a Mist, In the Dark, Flashes, Candlelights). I saw it once in a
public library. On hearing Ry Cooder's solo guitar version
of Flashes (or was it In a Mist ?)
I tried to order it and it was gone! Anyone know who
the publisher was?

Joe Sullivan recorded In the Dark and Flashes.

[Joel Glassman]

The website is http://www.sheetmusicdigital.com/. Type "Beiderbecke" in the search box.
The four pieces are collected under the title "Modern Piano Suite"

[Peter Hackman]

The website is http://www.sheetmusicdigital.com/. Type "Beiderbecke" in the search box.
The four pieces are collected under the title "Modern Piano Suite"
For Windows users only.

[Rick Schmidlin]

The website is http://www.sheetmusicdigital.com/. Type "Beiderbecke" in the search box.
The four pieces are collected under the title "Modern Piano Suite"
For Windows users only.
No I am sing them blues http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[Laurence Firth]

For what it's worth I did find Ralph Bertons book a good read although its a memoir and does contain factual errors. I recommend it but do read one of the more complete biographies too - to be fair to Bix.