Bix Beiderbecke Museum & Archives

11/25/2024

Read Sarah Watson's article about the museum's relocation efforts. We thank the QC Times for taking the time to talk with us!

The free museum's current below-ground location has faced closures from flooding in 2019 and 2023

11/25/2024

Thank you, Jonathan Turner, for the wonderful article about the museum's relocation effort.

After seven years tucked nearly out of sight in downtown Davenport, the growing Bix Beiderbecke Museum & Archive is raising money for a move across the street.

11/24/2024

100 years ago on November 24th and 25th, 1924, Bix Beiderbecke and the Jean Goldkette and His Orchestra made two recordings at the Detroit Athletic Club by Victor Records in Detroit, Michigan. The songs were "Adoration" written by Felix Borowski, and "I Didn't Know" written by W.R. Williams and Clarence M. Jones. Both of these recordings went unreleased. "I Didn't Know" went undiscovered until 1960 when it was found in a Camden vault and released by RCA Victor for the first time in 1961 on the "Bix Beiderbecke Legend" album.

To celebrate the centennial of Bix's first records, join the Bix Museum in celebrating 100 years of recorded music this year! From now until January 26th, donate $100 to the museum as part of our $100 for 100 Club to honor this historic anniversary. We will conclude the campaign on the 100-year Anniversary of “Davenport Blues”. Please share this campaign and show off your support by telling us about your favorite Bix recording in the comments!

All funding from this campaign allows us to continue offering free tours and admission to our museum, fund live jazz concerts, clean and maintain the instruments in our collection, and continue developing our visitor experience! All $100 for 100 donors will be listed on our site and Annual Reports for their contributions alongside their picks for favorite Bix Recording!

To contribute to this campaign go to www.bixmuseum.org/supportus to find out how!

11/18/2024

In a Mist McPartland Marian 1974[thanks to boberwig on dailymotion] Pianist Marian McPartland plays a tune composed by Bix Beiderbecke. He recorded "In the M...

10/29/2024

10/26/2024

Come see the Bix Museum out at the Credit Island Lodge in Davenport from 1-4pm during the QC Archives Fair! We got some candy and Bix Museum artifacts to show off including our newest acquisitions. Afterwards we will be at the QCSO trick or treat event tonight ahead of their showing of Hocus Pocus. Hope to see you there.

10/24/2024

We got a busy weekend this week!

Join the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and many community organizations including the Bix Museum October 26th in the Hallway connecting the RiverCenter to the Adler Theatre from 5:30-7:30 pm for Family-Friendly Treats and activities right before the QCSO live viewing and performance of Disney's Hocus Pocus. Learn how to get tickets on the QCSO website.

Then, starting at 7:30 pm, watch Hocus Pocus while the Symphony Orchestra plays the movie's score live. This Halloween, the Sanderson Sisters are back, and Disney’s Hocus Pocus will cast its spell on you like never before! Resurrected by an unwitting teenager’s lighting of the black flame candle, Salem’s most legendary witches chase their quest for eternal youth. Be swept away in this beloved classic, shown in high definition on the big screen as the Quad City Symphony Orchestra conjures John Debney’s score to life. Embrace the spirit of staying forever young at heart, and immerse yourself in a night of humor, suspense, and ageless adventure, in this bewitching live-to-film event.

10/22/2024

2025 marks the Centennial of Bix's first composition "Davenport Blues" so in partnership with local music organizations the Bix Museum will be providing the Quad Cities with high quality jazz music throughout the year! First show to announce is BYOBrass at the Redstone Room with our friends at Common Chord on May 30th, 2025.

We're excited to announce more events for the upcoming year as they are available. Be on the lookout for details on next year's Bix Birthday Bash happening March 9th, 2025 and a big concert we've been working on slated for September of 2025 with a very special artist 🥳

🎺Just Announced!🎺

We're teaming up with Bix Beiderbecke Museum & Archives to bring our friends BYOBrass to the Redstone Room next May. Mark your calendars for a good time!

10/19/2024

We've been cleaning up Bix's trophy to make it nice and shiny for display soon and wanted to share more about his tournament win on September 10th, 1919. Bix defeated Carl Seids of Moline by the scores of 6-0, 18-16, 4-6, 4-6, and 6-1 to become the Tri-City Champion in the Boys 16 and under Singles tournament hosted by the Outing Club in Davenport. Seids was the favorite to win the match after upsetting George Marks, the tournament favorite. Local papers described the match as hard-fought, especially in sets 3 and 4, and Bix finished off the last set winning due to several unreturnable serves. This was at the time considered a well-received and highly successful tournament in terms of the skill of the players competing and the attendance. Bix also played Doubles for the Outing Club's team with Richard von Maur, Sr. as his partner.

10/16/2024

Did you know that Bix Beiderbecke was a tennis player growing up? Well today we are happy to announce that a donor has just donated Bix's tennis trophy from a tournament he won while playing for the Outing Club's tennis team in September of 1919 along with a few shirts studs of his.

The donor, David Hartvigsen, had a grandfather, Harry Bawden, who grew up in Davenport and was a playmate of Bix's older brother Burnie, and occasionally Bix himself, although Harry recalled that Bix spent a lot of time playing the piano instead of hanging out. David met Bix's brother once at his grandfather's house in the early 1970s. He was an aspiring trumpet player and fan of Bix, so his brother graciously gave him two items from Bix: a trophy Bix won at a tennis tournament dated Sept 10, 1919 and a set of pearl shirt studs that Bix used.

The studs match a set of studs the museum has on display and are thought to be of the same artifacts Bix's brother, Burnie, had retrieved from Bix's Queens apartment after his passing. The Beiderbecke family had distributed small things of Bix's like extra studs and cufflinks to family and friends over the years after Bix's passing. Burnie would often gift artifacts of Bix's to aspiring trumpet players he would meet later in his life after talking with them about his younger brother Bix. The museum owns a cornet of Bix's that was gifted by Burnie to a young trumpet player in a similar way. We hope to find a nice place to display the trophy in our exhibit in the near future.

10/11/2024

See you at the Archives Fair!

Join us for the 2024 QC Archives Fair at the Credit Island Lodge on October 26, 1- 4pm. With over 20 organizations exhibiting, experience the rich history we have in the Quad Cities. For more info: https://sites.google.com/view/qcarchivesfair

Come to the QC Archives Fair and visit the Bix Beiderbecke Museum & Archives table!

The Bix Beiderbecke Museum & World Archives is a museum located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, the hometown of Jazz Legend Bix Beiderbecke.

Opening in 2017 in the lower level of the Redstone Building on the corner of 2nd and Main St, the Bix Museum is the premier location in the Quad Cities to learn about the life and legacy of Bix Beiderbecke.

The museum is accompanied by the most extensive archive resource on Bix in the world and serves to preserve and teach that knowledge to future generations to come.

The museum is open Mon-Fri from 10am-5pm and Sat from 10am-2pm. Admission is free.

To learn more please visit : https://www.bixmuseum.org/

10/09/2024

100 years ago on October 9th, 1924, Bix Beiderbecke and the Sioux City Six made two recordings at the Gennett Records studios in New York. The songs were "I'm Glad" written by Frank Trumbauer, and "Flock O' Blues" written by Rube Bloom. Sioux City Six was formed with Bix, two other Wolverine members (Min Leibrook, Vic Moore), Frank Trumbauer, Miff Mole and Rube Bloom. The original name of the group was supposed to be Davenport Six after Bix's hometown, but Miff Mole told the sound engineer to change the name to Sioux City Six after Bix left the recording studio. This was meant to be a prank since Sioux City is located on the opposite side of Iowa, but the name stuck. This is the first issued recording where Bix plays with Miff Mole and Frank Trumbauer.

To celebrate the centennial of Bix's first records, join the Bix Museum in celebrating 100 years of recorded music this year! From now until January 26th, donate $100 to the museum as part of our $100 for 100 Club to honor this historic anniversary. We will conclude the campaign on the 100-year Anniversary of “Davenport Blues”. Please share this campaign and show off your support by telling us about your favorite Bix recording in the comments!

All funding from this campaign allows us to continue offering free tours and admission to our museum, fund live jazz concerts, clean and maintain the instruments in our collection, and continue developing our visitor experience! All $100 for 100 donors will be listed on our site and Annual Reports for their contributions alongside their picks for favorite Bix Recording!

To contribute to this campaign go to www.bixmuseum.org/supportus to find out how!

10/08/2024

100 years ago on October 8th, 1924, Bix Beiderbecke and the Wolverines made two recordings at the Gennett Records studios in New York City, NY. The songs were "Big Boy" written by Milton Ager, and "Tia Juana" written by Larry Conley and Gene Rodemich. The recording of "Big Boy" was the first time Bix's piano soloing was recorded. He performs solos on both piano and cornet.

The Wolverines would go on to record 15 total sides for Gennett Records between February and October 1924 and many are considered jazz standards still played and recognized today as significant recordings of jazz history.

To celebrate the centennial of Bix's first records, join the Bix Museum in celebrating 100 years of recorded music this year! From now until January 26th, donate $100 to the museum as part of our $100 for 100 Club to honor this historic anniversary. We will conclude the campaign on the 100-year Anniversary of “Davenport Blues”. Please share this campaign and show off your support by telling us about your favorite Bix recording in the comments!

All funding from this campaign allows us to continue offering free tours and admission to our museum, fund live jazz concerts, clean and maintain the instruments in our collection, and continue developing our visitor experience! All $100 for 100 donors will be listed on our site and Annual Reports for their contributions alongside their picks for favorite Bix Recording!

To contribute to this campaign go to www.bixmuseum.org/supportus to find out how!

10/03/2024

October Bix Museum Newsletter | QC Museum Month, QC Archives Fair, QCSO Trick or Treat, 100 Years of Bix History, and more! - https://mailchi.mp/03410d70687d/october-2024

09/25/2024

The Bix Museum now has our Bix Sandke Memorial Panel installed in the museum honoring the short life of Bix Sandke who passed away in 2022. The Bix Museum would like to thank all of the donors who have contributed to the Bix Sandke Memorial Fund to keep the memory of Bix alive. This fund has raised over $13,000 to support Bix Museum operations and programming since 2022. If you would like to make a memorial contribution, you can go to https://www.bixmuseum.org/supportus to find out how.

09/21/2024

The Bix Museum will not be open today for our regular hours. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Reach out to us by email if you would like to book an appointment with us on the weekends outside our regular hours.