Singin The Blues - Bix Beiderbecke

There is a handful of records that I need to hear a couple of times a year. I Can't Get Started (long version), Getting Sentimental Over You, Begin the Beguine, Indian Love Call (Shaw's versions, of course), and a few more, including this gem.

Tragically short-lived, very talented musician.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this granpa music

From today's perspective is one thing, but remember when this was recorded and how young the style was.

Yes, Lang's counterpoint is perfect, as perfect in its own way as Bix' solo- but that solo, along with Pops' West End Blues, essentially lays out the whole essential vocabulary of blues-based jazz. Genius. No other word suffices. How appropriate that those two giants- Louis and Bix- admired one another, jammed together (now, what would you pay for a CD of those sessions. wow!), and yet retained each their own inimitable style. They knock me out, straight up.

You can try to turn me on to Bix all you like, but it's still going to take a while considering how much of Beiderbeckes' music is available, and where it's not just him playing in the backdrop.

Yes, very true, and a pity. His life, and his catalogue, are painfully short.

But I did like his piano work, In a Mist. Shame he didn't have as much a success as Jelly.

If you read any of the books about Bix, he and Louis Armstrong were friends who jammed after hours in clubs that allowed the two to play after the crowds were gone. They definitely had a mutual admiration for each other!

When Louis first heard Bix play, he said "Those sweet notes just went right through me." Mutual admiration.