play this music while reading the biography:
BIX BEIDERBECKE
by Vicky Pham
Bix Beiderbecke was one of the greatest jazz musicians in the 1920's. He was born on March 10, 1903 in
Davenport, Iowa.When Bix Beiderbecke was a child he had a few piano lesson, but he taught himself
how to play the cornet. While playing the cornet, he developed a strange technique by playing along
with records. When his family found out that he was failing school and about his interest in Jazz, they
were furious and sent him to a military school called Lake Forest Academy in 1921. While at Lake Forest
Academy, Bix was skipping class and playing musical instruments, which led to expulsion. His father
brought him to Davenport to work for him, but after several month, he turned to a career in music. In
1923, Beiderbecke joined a band called the Wolverine, which made him extremely popular to the
audiences outside of Chicago and of course, New York. He began to play with his new band and he made
a new friend, Frankie Trumbauer. Beiderbecke and Trumbauer were similar, they wanted to play and
hear the lively sound of jazz. Their playing was the developement of "cool" jazz. Beiderbecke played and
recorded with variety of groups in the 1920s, but he than developed a taste for alcohol, which was filled
with poisonous ingredients. His addiction to alcohol was growing and his carrer started to go downhill.
During the late 1920s, Beiderbecke made several recordings on cornet with small groups including
Trumbauer. The two of them famously recorded the tune "Singin' the Blues and he composed solo piano
pieces including " In a Mist". Despite his successes, his addict drinking was blocking his path to his career.
In 1929, after a nervous breakdown, he asked to take leave of absence from the Whiteman Orchestra to
recover. He never got over his addiction to alcohol, and two years later, on August 6, 1931, at age 28 he
died of toxic liquor.