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Leon Beiderbecke was born in Davenport, Iowa on March 10th 1903.
He had an uncanny flair for music. At three years old he could play the piano.
Although he did not read music well, he could listen to a tune once and play it.
At the age of fourteen he began to play the cornet.
His family hoped that when he left school he would enter into the family business of coal and lumber merchants, but Bix had other ideas. In an effort to try and control his love of music, his parents sent him to a Military School near Chicago. He was soon expelled after playing truant. As the school was close to the centre of the jazz scene he simply formed a small band and played in the local halls.
After a brief return to his home, he left to pursue his musical career. He played on the excursion boats that sailed on Lake Michigan, before joining a band called The Wolverines. They briefly toured Indiana and Ohio, before moving to New York.
He stayed with the band for a year before joining the saxophone pioneer Frank Trumbauer In his band in Detroit.
They only stayed together until 1927, when Bix was on the move again. This time he worked with Paul Whiteman. They worked well together, and toured nationally until 1929, when Bix suffered from a nervous breakdown. Bix returned to his parent |
