Finding Bix: The Life and Afterlife of a Jazz Legend

Wow, I had such a different experience than a couple of, um, very passionate reviewers on here. I guess if you were looking for "The Most Definitive Biography of Bix Beiderbecke Ever Written," yes, this would fall short. Why? Because that's not the book the author set out to write, as he makes clear multiple times. Instead, what Wolfe gives us is so rich! He wrestles with what we know about Bix vs. what we can never know vs. the Bix legend, and his thoughts on how we make these legends, and why, and what they require are as enjoyable to read as they are refreshing. This book is much more than straight biography (to its credit, in this case). A great read.

This book ought to be called, "Finding out that my friend Barb's emailed discussions to me totally influenced my opinion of Bix and the writing of this book. " Every other quotation in an end note reads: "from an email sent by [and her full name]. I'm in the end notes too, puzzlingly so (he never asked my permission if he could quote from my postings on the Bixography Forum chat website) concerning some rather stupid, badly drawn French comic rendition of Bix, but no matter. We get "restless, fiercely intelligent" (you know what that's shorthand for) B.W's vituperative opinions of how "there was something fundamentally, seriously wrong with Bix", that he was "an impossible little s---", and her reassessment, based on speculation only, of what was going on between Bix and Hoagy during listening to a recording of The Firebird, as if she'd been sitting right there in the frat house room in 1924. I mean, so what? It gets a little wearing to have every idea and opinion presented in this book be totally hers, all tied up with a bow, when it would seem to any reader that she obviously loathes even the very mention of Bix Beiderbecke and, more importantly, that this is supposed to be Brendan Wolfe's book and was amusingly written enough to have stood on its own, whether readers agree with his, the author's, conclusions or not. Shouldn't the books we write be comprised of our own ideas? Or am I missing something here?

Finding Bix is not a conventional biography. It does not evolve chronologically. The book is reminiscent of jazz. It starts a story, riffs on it until you forget the original melody and eventually circles back to the beginning. Bix Beiderbecke is one of those brilliant artists who appeared on the scene, changed the genre and self-destructed at a young age. He played with Louis Armstrong and Hoagy Carmichael and other well known musicians in the late 1920's and very early 1930's. Bix died in 1931 at the age of 28. His fame is most notable among cornet players, jazz musicians, and residents of Davenport, Iowa. Had he lived longer, he surely would have achieved broader recognition with the general public. My favorite parts of this book were when the author, or one of the many people whom he interviewed, told his personal story of why Bix was important to him. Brendan Wolfe spent 13 years researching and writing this story and seems to have left no source unchecked. I became interested in learning about Bix Beiderbecke when I heard that the classic movie, Young Man With a Horn, was loosely based on his life. The real story is much more interesting than the Hollywood version.

Way more than just a wikipedia biography. A real look into the nuances of an artist and in some ways more of a critique of complicated legacy of Bix. Extremely engaging and thought provoking but not always in a warm fuzzy way. For a Bixophile it will really challenge you and will anger those who simply want to have their preconceived viewpoints reinforced. Our artist heros can be complicated human beings in real life and this book delves into the full spectrum of the mystical Bix.

I had titled this review "A waste of time and money" before seeing that another reviewer had used that exact title, with good reason. I truly regret having spent any money on this. Half of this cobbled together work is bizarre and boorish intellectual fantasizing used to trot out ridiculous and salacious speculation about Beiderbecke, which the author clearly hoped would give this thing some buzz. In reading it soon becomes apparent that the author harbors some deep seated dislike or jealousy of Beiderbecke, engaging on irresponsible musings based on nearly no proof whatsoever other than his own and other's mental masturbation, The author pads out the other half to reach book length with essentially blog posts and the author's brief encounters with some jazz critics and regurgitating their peculiar views, which he then attempts to analyse. This book is painful to slog through and provides little, if any illumination on the actual life and legacy of Bix Beiderbecke. The author clearly strains to find support for his premise that Beiderbecke doesn't deserve the acclaim and renown he rightly enjoys, but one is left wondering why. It's a low brow Kitty Kelly style celebrity hatchet job dressed up with enough pseudo intellectual dreck to choke a goat., The author's objective becomes clear; to take the subject down a few pegs, and demean those who admire Beiderbecke and have no interest in salacious and unproven slander, written with a smugness that comes from spending a lot of time trying to find out about Bix and emerging knowing precious little at all. So he falls headlong into the trap so many others have fallen into... he just makes it up. A sad disservice to his subject. It's a book desperate for reason to actually be a book, cobbled together, disjointed, and insubstantial. If you can make it through, you're left with a frustrating feeling you've been had. If Wolfe has achieved anything with this work, it's getting someone to agree to publish it at all.

An interesting read, but from people who are in love with the legend and not necessarily the real man. The Evans book comes closest to the actual Bix from musicians and people who knew him.