The unrecognized Bix Beiderbecke #1 - What A Day!

[Hernes6]

Hardly Bix, but "Bixy". Secrest became good imitating Bix, but was lacking his intensity and phrasing. A boring solo in the Beiderbecke idom. Not listed in any Bix discography, and that is understandable. Nice music thou.

Trygve Hernæs, Trondheim, Norway

[harryoakley]

@Hernes6 If you read the notes you will see that it can only be Bix - Secrest is playing the lead.

[fromthesidelines]

I wish I'd been at your Racine lecture before I opened my big mouth, Harry! I do appreciate your revealing the real reason why this was issued under the "Mason-Dixon" alias....

[harryoakley]

As I pointed out in my lecture about this is Racine a month ago, the name "Mason-Dixon Orchestra" was chosen as an in-joke by Columbia because the number of this issue is 1861. It was otherwise a Trumbauer session, but also unusual because it was the only one for Columbia. Trumbauer's recording contract was with Okeh, which was, athough owned by Columbia, a separately run company. In any case, here are not three horns (as has always been claimed) but only two - Secrest and Bix.

[fromthesidelines]

I believe that, since this was a Columbia release, they didn't want Trumbauer's name on it (as he was already established on their Okeh subsidiary), and released this disc under the "Mason-Dixon" name [to them, it gave the songs a "touch of class"].

[altoalto1]

the cornet on 2.15 - 2.40 sounds to my ears as an somewhat insecure Bix afraid of making mistakes.

[harryoakley]

Please read my extensive notes above - it cannot be anyone else but Bix.

[toonsmyth]

Great stuff! Thanks for posting these!

[mlaprarie]

To my ears, Secrest sounds like he is "tiring out" during the last chorus (2:15 - 2:40); his high notes are flat and sound strained. The cornet soloist on the bridge is (to my ears at least) a different player, as you say, in a different position relative to the microphone. This makes sense, because handing the bridge to another player would give Secrest a few seconds to refresh his lip before the final out chorus. Is the other cornettist Bix? Well, who else could it be?

[harryoakley]

Exactly. Secrest quite clearly messes it up, runs out of steam and plays a few "clams". And again, on top of that, you can hear where Bix rejoins te ensemble, after his eight bars, because from the second riff there is an extra cornet. The first riff sounds like ONE cornet only (Secrest). Bix, during the first riff, stepped back from the microphone.

[dancebandleader]

@harryoakley I tend to agree with you. But this odd naming of the group suggests

a performance that could have been thought less of by the participants.

[harryoakley]

I do not think that the bandmembers had anything to do with the name of the group. That was purely Columbia's decision. But it remains indeeed a mystery why this name was chosen.

[antcol8]

Can I add my two cents to this? I can really see what you're talking about with the other side, but I don't think this bridge is Bix. First, the aforementioned held note, and then, Bix's quarter notes had gotten a lot less choppy than this by '29. It really sounds like someone imitating a 1927 Bix record.

[harryoakley]

I don't agree. Typical Bix - even if you forget that it cannot technically be Secrest. Otherwise it would be Margulies (as somebody suggested) which of course is utter nonsense; Margulies is a totally different player.

[mooncalfwilliams]

Listen again to the playing at the end. Bix wouldn't have held that note out. It's Secrest.

[harryoakley]

If you can't hear the clear difference between Secrest and Bix, please read the full text and the various comments. And then try to understand why it can't be Secrest.

[luvmyrecords]

Notice, too, that the "ride" at the very end just barely misses overlapping the solo; it has to be a different guy. That phrasing/articulation couldn't be anyone but Bix. It's like those of us imitating Charlie Parker's phrasing - we all sorta kinda can, but when you hear the man himself, you can't confuse him with anyone else! (I read that Bix book back in college and forgot about this record and never heard it until now. Thanks. RIP, Dick Sudhalter - say "hi'' to Bix for us!)

[harryoakley]

That is indeed the essence of the case - there is simply no time for Bix to step back from the mike and play the lead after his solo. But there is another thing. After the solo, there are five similar riffs - the first one has clearly one horn less than the others. After that first riff Bix has stepped back from the mike to join the ensemble and also plays the remaining riffs.

[robchalfen]

def Bix on that last 8, sounding rueful, underslept. Agree this has been overlooked, but given the context, on what grounds?

[sammckinstry]

Harry Oakley, you've done it again - I'm sure you're dead on with your identification of Bix's 8 bar solo after 2-41. Wonderful! Can you say alittle about youreslf, and where you fit in to the Bix aficionado setup? Take it you're in the USA?

[TubaPoobah]

Hi Gang!

Boy, this is a tough one eh? I have played this record several times and also here x 50+.

As much as I want to say it's definitely Bix, I can't! Bix had good and bad days on recording dates, but to my ears, this fits neither category.

Although there are were only a few clams hit on this recording, it was just telling enough for me to think it's not Bix. If anything, as messed up as Bix may have been on occasion, I REALLY don't think this is Bix. GOOD player though, whoever it is.

[harryoakley]

You obviously haven't read the accompanying text with this download. I suggest you do so (right upper corner). Most of the cornet you hear is Secrest. Bix only plays the 8-bar bridge in the last chorus. Without any "clams".

[msjazzmeblues]

Then if jazzgirl1920s is right, and I'm not questioning that she is, then Bix and Andy were probably familiar with and rehearsing a similar arrangement at this time side by side with the Whiteman band, making it even more difficult to identify who is playing what. They probably were quite capable of swapping parts whenever they chose.

Rather than being too weak, Bix, never accused of being an egotist, might have simply been willing to let "the kid" take some breaks here and there.

[msjazzmeblues]

I agree. The final solo has to be Bix. What a great discovery. The primary discographers missed this one!

[pinkieldred]

Prediction (Or Wishful thinking)

People owned movie cameras back then ..circa 1927-1930. Sometime someone will be cleaning an attic out and find a movie clip of Bix playing with Whiteman in some ballroom someplace,... you think?

[harryoakley]

I am sure that there is much more still out there. Indeed, home movies and photos in people's attic, but also press photos and film from the moments that the Whiteman band arrived in towns and cities during tours.

[cenotosa1]

Bix Beiderbecke was the unlucky Louis Armstrong.

[NAN752]

Another find for me...thanks so much. It is really delightful. Has me tapping my feet here, I love it!

[altoalto1]

I agree that I hear Secrest on 2:20-238 where he is just as out of tune as in his solo in 'A great Day' with Whiteman and from 2:41 its a different hornplayer who sounds like Bix to me

[TuberOnTheLoose]

@altoalto1 You have a good ear, Alto. The two solos are definitely two different musicians. I agree the second solo is done in Bix's style, even if it isn't him.

[fromthesidelines]

Most likely Bix AND Secrest were present at this session, as both were virtually on the remaining Trumbauer and Whiteman sessions Bix participated in during most of '29, "sharing" their solos.

[jazzgirl1920s]

Sure sounds like Bix to me at 2:41. The tone is his, but a little weak and the improvising doesn't sound like Secrest.

As to "that's all there is, there isn't anymore" that may be true for now but by some miracle if Old Gold radio transcriptions surface in the future the Whiteman band played What A Day on three Old Gold broadcasts. June 25, 1929; July 23, 1929 and September 3, 1929. Warren Scholl noted-essentially the same arrangement as Trumbauer's Mason-Dixon Orchestra on Columbia 1861-D.

[jozefsterkens2]

Thanks for this fine recording.