Bix Beiderbecke was one of the first great legends of jazz. Among the most innovative cornet soloists of the 1920s and the first important white player, he invented the jazz ballad and pointed the way to 鈥渃ool鈥 jazz. But his recording career lasted just six years; he drank himself to death in 1931鈥攁t the age of twenty-eight. It was this meteoric rise and fall, combined with the searing originality of his playing and the mystery of his character鈥攚ho was Bix? not even his friends or family seemed to know鈥攖hat inspired subsequent generations to imitate him, worship him, and write about him. It also provoked Brendan Wolfe鈥檚 Finding Bix a personal and often surprising attempt to connect music, history, and legend.
A native of Beiderbecke鈥檚 hometown of Davenport, Iowa, Wolfe grew up seeing Bix鈥檚 iconic portrait on everything from posters to parking garages. He never heard his music, though, until cast to play a bit part in an Italian biopic filmed in Davenport. Then, after writing a newspaper review of a book about Beiderbecke, Wolfe unexpectedly received a letter from the late musician's nephew scolding him for getting a number of facts wrong. This is where Finding Bix begins: in Wolfe's good-faith attempt to get the facts right.
What follows, though, is anything but straightforward, as Wolfe discovers Bix Beiderbecke to be at the heart of furious and ever-timely disputes over addiction, race and the origins of jazz, sex, and the influence of commerce on art. He also uncovers proof that the only newspaper interview Bix gave in his lifetime was a fraud, almost entirely plagiarized from several different sources. In fact, Wolfe comes to realize that the closer he seems to get to Bix, the more the legend retreats.
鈥淭his book has the potential to spread Bix鈥檚 reputation and share his work with a wider audience. Similar to Peter Guralnick鈥檚 Searching for Robert Johnson, Brendan Wolfe鈥檚 book delves beyond the bio and music and into the often conflicting details of Bix鈥檚 personal life, an approach that sheds light on the facts of the subject鈥檚 life and the fleeting nature of truth.鈥濃擯reston Lauterbach, author, The Chitlin鈥 Circuit and Beale Street Dynasty
鈥淔unny, passionate, and touching鈥攕ometimes in the same sentence. While the book is about Bix, it鈥檚 also not really about Bix; the ideas it contains鈥攊dentity, fame, originality, addiction, obsession, truth鈥攁re universal. The structure mimics a jazz song, specifically Bix鈥檚 music. Wolfe blends boundaries 脿 la Leslie Jamison or John D鈥橝gata, but retains the musical element as Amanda Petrusich would.鈥濃擩ay Varner, author, Nothing Left to Burn
