Beiderbecke << BY duhr `behk` >>, Bix (1903-1931), was an American jazz cornet player. Beiderbecke was the first white jazz musician to be widely admired by both black and white jazz performers. He was also a gifted pianist and composer. His most famous composition is In a Mist (1927), which he recorded as a piano solo.
Beiderbecke was born Leon Bismarck Beiderbecke in Davenport, Iowa, on March 10, 1903. In the 1920’s he played with a number of pioneer jazz bands, including the “Wolverines” and saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer’s orchestra. From 1927 to 1929, Beiderbecke was a soloist with Paul Whiteman’s orchestra. But Beiderbecke’s finest recordings were made with his own small groups or in partnership with Trumbauer. He died on Aug. 6, 1931, in New York City, virtually unknown.
