Bix Beiderbecke Museum & Archives

08/22/2026

Here's a quick walkthrough of the new Bix Museum Space!

08/18/2026

The Bix Museum now has new brochures for the museum with our new address, contact info, and admissions on it! Excited to hand these out to some places that have been asking us for some

08/16/2026

One of the earliest surviving examples of Bix's signature, written when he was 9 years old in a letter to his mother asking for a nickel so he could get himself an eraser to erase his spelling mistakes. Bix signs the letter, "frome your Leon Bix Beiderbecke not Bismark Remeber"

The letter is part of our Beiderbecke Family Archives

08/10/2026

Bix Blast August 2026 Edition | Bix Lives: The Founding of a Movement Exhibit Open through the end of 2026, Bix Lives Award recipient is Catfish Jazz Society, 55th Bix Fest is now in the bag what is next, Bix Childhood Home Purchased, and More! Join our newsletter to get all updates sent directly to your email. Find out how on our website.

08/08/2026

Trying something new in the museum. We sourced a copy of Claude Debussy's Nocturne for our display of Bix's last apartment which features his piano. Bix was known to enjoy the work of French pianists like Ravel and Debussy, so we thought it might be fitting to show some of that influence in the displays. Thoughts?

08/07/2026

On August 6th 1931, at 9:30 EST, jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke passed away from pneumonia in his Queens apartment at the age of 28. His mother and brother were en route to his bedside after being informed just days prior that he wasn't doing very well. By the time they made it to New York, he had already passed. Among his items in the apartment was this letter he never finished. A follow-up to the previous letter his family had received, asking them what they thought of his girlfriend, Alice, whom he had previously sent a photo of. This year marks the 95th year since his passing, but his music continues to live on around the world.

To learn more about Bix's life, music, and his legacy, come visit the Bix Museum in downtown Davenport or go to our website at www.bixmuseum.org

08/03/2026

One year ago versus today! We can't believe the amount of work put into making the move and reopening a reality. Thank you to all who helped make it possible.

The museum may be open but our work isn't done. We got a lot of things planned to keep improving the museum and offering the best experience to guests. With our new temporary exhibit space, we aim to bring out new and exciting artifacts not seen before from our collections. We need more lights and display cases to create these exhibits. We want to provide new programming to the public and improve existing programs like our jazz concerts we host or a possible record club where you can visit the museum after hours and listen to 78s on original record players from the era. We want to attract group tours and be engaged with local and visiting organizations to provide special tours and viewing of the museum. We are now working on promotional group rates and reaching out to community groups to get the word out.

Our ability to grow and improve starts with our supporters. There are many ways to help the museum from volunteering time, donating funds or materials to help with capital improvements to our space, or gifting items like Bix memorabilia, records, books, CDs, etc that can be sold in our gift shop to raise some funds for our programs. To find out how to support the museum you can go to www.bixmuseum.org/supportus or reach out and we'd be glad to answer any questions. Here's to many more years of the Bix Museum!

08/02/2026

The Bix Museum is open today from 10am-2pm for our special Bix Fest hours. If you are coming to the Redstone Room concert today then might as well come early to check out the museum!

08/01/2026

For those who were planning on seeing the gravesite concert this morning and want something to do with the extra hour you now have, the Bix Museum is opening today just before 10am so now's a great time to come see us! We'll have footage of gravesite concerts from past Bix Festivals playing on the TVs in our lobby to make up for the cancellation 😉

🌩️WEATHER CANCELLATION🌩️

Due to a steady forecast of rain and strong chance of lightning, the Saturday morning graveside concert has been cancelled.

The Festival will continue all day Saturday at Rhythm City Casino, and will conclude Sunday afternoon with the Sunday Session in the Redstone Room.

07/31/2026

And the 2026 Bix Lives Award goes to Catfish Jazz Society ! Since 1989, the Catfish Jazz Society has been keeping the spirit of Bix alive through the hosting of their monthly free jam sessions, their annual Bix Birthday Bash, and their music scholarship program that has gifted over $72,000 to 84 student musicians since 1999. Since their founding, they've been one of the strongest contingents of volunteers for the annual Bix Festival, helping keep the festival going for the last 55 years.

The Bix Lives Award Committee is happy to have awarded Catfish the Bix Lives Award this year as the first ever organization to be awarded it since the award's inception in 2008. A full video of the ceremony will be made available on Facebook and YouTube in the coming days. Please join us in congratulating this year's winner.