Bix’s Diary: An Introduction

Here is one of the books I brought with me to Virginia: Bix: The Leon Bix Beiderbecke Story by Philip R. and Linda K. Evans. At 602 pages, it’s a big red doorstop with poor binding and, on its cover, a painting of a dreamy-eyed Bix. (By accident or design, this Bix also comes outfitted with a Mona Lisa smile and a shimmering orange nimbus.) The book itself is a singularly thorough, even compulsive work of scholarship. Meticulously organized into a day-by-day, year-by-year chronology of Bix’s life, it reads more like the authors’ research notes than a traditional biography. A day may occupy pages or, in the instance of Thursday, March 18, 1926, a mere nine words: “Bix and Pee Wee Russell had dinner at Ruth’s.” Telegraphic descriptions are accompanied by info-laden charts and tables, newspaper clippings, orchestra programs (Bix often attended the St. Louis Symphony), set lists, personnel lists, personal letters, photographs (including a family album of far-flung, present-day Beiderbeckes), and verbatim transcripts from interviews with friends and acquaintances. “Bix came in and borrowed some cigarettes,” the aforementioned Ruth recalled in 1973. “I was smoking Camels and I think that was his brand, too.” There is an index of song titles and a section devoted to the particulars of Bix’s cornets. And lest you wonder why the boldface print, Philip Evans explains in his Foreword: “So as not to confuse the reader, we have bolded Bix’s name/names when it is referring to the Bix. Also his words whether in comments, his letters or newspaper articles, have also been bolded.”

While explicitly declaring war on all things “anti-Bix”—from the Evanses’ perspective, a short list would certainly include these two films and Ralph Berton’s memoir—the ironically titled Leon Bix Beiderbecke Story is also at war with narrative itself. It is a colossus of facts, filled with information of all kinds, both pertinent and otherwise. It is not, however, a story. Stories are the means of myth, after all, and the Bix myth, promulgated in these many “flawed,” “unfortunate,” “self-serving,” “imaginary,” “reckless,” “arbitrary,” and “often politically correct” novels, biographies, memoirs, and movies, is perhaps the chief source of what really is an astonishing amount of misinformation. “Happily,” the book tells us, “the error-ridden glut has now been rendered kaput, obsolete—fit only for a hungry paper-shredder and a bottomless compost pit.”

Well, I doubt that, actually.

Either way, I thought it would be fun to use Evans & Evans as the basis for an occasional feature called Bix’s Diary. Of course, Bix was no Samuel Pepys; for starters, he had much better pitch! But over half a century, Phil Evans, who died in 1999, gathered enough minutiae about his favorite musician that the ebb & flow of a jazzman’s life begins to appear.

So check back regularly and find out what tune Bix recorded today or what brand of cigarette he most likely smoked after . . .

Comments

[Scott Black]

Hi! I just read your intro about your Bix Diary. I was very close to Phil Evans for the last 20 years or so of his life. So many people had stolen so much from him over the years that he really didn't have much faith when it came to trusting people about Bix. At the end of his life, it was down to three of us, not counting Linda. Vince Giordano, well known 20's style bandleader, David Boeddinghaus, one of the finest on piano anywhere, and myself.
His death was brought on by a bogus lawsuit that came just after the 1998 book was released. Every cent he had in the world was tied up in that book, and this wannabe "writer" tried to claim that Phil had stolen HIS research. Well, as lawyers do, they had all the profits tied up from the book in escrow until after the trial. They wanted his home appraised because they intended to take it for damages to their client. It brought on a nightmare depression that he couldn't shake. I was on the phone with him every day, doing my best to bring him out of it. He didn't even know this idiot! How this lawsuit got as far as it is beyond logic. But it was like the 1974 book all over again, someone wanted it, claimed it and got away with it. So, one morning after getting out of the shower, Phil just fell over dead.
I testified on his behalf in Federal Court when the trial took place two months after his death. I showed how not a word of this losers claims were true, AND pointed out 159 places where HE had stolen information from Phil's research, citing which letter, tape, etc. was the origin.
It took Linda and myself 20 years to talk him into doing another book about Bix. That's because of the mess with Richard Sudhalter that I'm sure you've heard about. And that's why the 1998 book was in a more clinical format instead of a story. But we kept telling him that the only way for him to get the basic truths out about Bix was to do another book. Otherwise, people will forever believe the garbage that Richard threw in about Bix's family, and mostly about his father. Not a word of that is true, Sudhalter was trying to prove a point to HIS father. Just a mess.
Anyway, I came across your diary here and thought I'd chime in. I have Phil's entire archive and collection here in Connecticut. Took eight years. Two plane trips a year bringing back as much as possible, then last May driving a van across the country with the resr of his collection. And being chased by a tornado or two in almost every state.
A few days ago, I annexed off a part of my website at Kazoolips.com as a tribute to Phil and have so far, eight pages of photos and ads, documents, etc. Some you may have seen, many you have not. I've been keeping his research going by myself. One of the photos I've put on my site is of Bix taken in 1931, about four months before his death. I found this a couple of years ago. This was from that mystery tour that he did that Spring. This is almost two years after the last known photo of him was taken. And he was looking and doing great, playing better than ever! Another BS story that is now considered a part of Bix's life is that from 1929 on, he was just a shell of his former self. Not even slightly true, but the Drama Queen writers who have turned him into an industry keep cranking this crap out.
I'm putting together a book on Bix. And it's contents are in the exact words of those who knew him, taken from over 1000 hours of recorded interviews that go back to 1952. The only problem is that it's over 500 pages so far, and not even 1/3 done. And there's nothing that I would want to keep out, it's all that good! The only thing I will add will thumbnail bios of those telling the stories, so folks would know who these people are, and their relationship to Bix. It's the only to finally get the story told and told right. The real Bix was quite a bit different from the one that everybody thinks they know so much about!
So, if you get a moment check out my site at kazoolips.com, and scroll down the intro page until you see the section with the link to Phil's collection. Kazoo Lips is a small CD company I put together to release a ton of rare, never before released jazz items.

Good luck with the diary!
All the best,
Scott Black

[Brendan Wolfe]

Thanks for checking in, Scott. The photo is great, and I'll be sure to visit Kazoo Lips often. Best of luck with your book. Keep me updated with your progress.