Thank you for this thoughtful post and book review. I know (or now knew) little about Bix, so your post was educational, to say the least. This past May I came across a poem — “Who Remembers Davenport” — that is basically about Bix, and a bit about Louis Armstrong, and also some about the times in Davenport in 1920. All in a very compact, high-impact form. It’s at this link to the Poem-A-Day site: https://poets.org/poem/who-remembers-davenport
Loved this column, Alison. I had the chance to talk to (and am LinkedIn connected with) author Brendan Wolfe who wrote a very good Bix biography called Finding Bix: The Life and Afterlife of a Jazz Legend.
Wolfe said the evidence for the statutory rape allegations are very weak and he doubts them, noting the charge was dropped and the case never actually went to trial. He believes Bix’s reputation as a drunkard and n’er do-well was the source of it.
I highly recommend that biography - while it defends that particular allegation, it does not downplay or sugarcoat Bix’s dark side at all. It’s a good read.
Thank you SO much for sharing that, Tory (and for reading!!). Since posting this last last night (or I guess actually very early this morning), a reader and friend who loves history has located that exact book at the library and propsed we do a little book club together. We're also possibly going to hit up that museum. Thanks again for sharing this - very intereting!
Hey - I'd be interested in joining you guys for both, if that's not too pushy, lol. I am a local history buff. Besides, our little band of Iowa Writers Collaborative authors in the Quads needs to stick together!
Ah! Thank you for this! Quite interesting. (And good reporting.) It's cool that the author himself is a Davenport native. I'm putting his book on hold at DPL right now!
Also, I probably should've mentioned in my post that there IS an annual Bix jazz fest, etc.
Thank you for this thoughtful post and book review. I know (or now knew) little about Bix, so your post was educational, to say the least. This past May I came across a poem — “Who Remembers Davenport” — that is basically about Bix, and a bit about Louis Armstrong, and also some about the times in Davenport in 1920. All in a very compact, high-impact form. It’s at this link to the Poem-A-Day site: https://poets.org/poem/who-remembers-davenport
Forrest, thank you so much for reading and responding! Off to go read the poem now!
Loved this column, Alison. I had the chance to talk to (and am LinkedIn connected with) author Brendan Wolfe who wrote a very good Bix biography called Finding Bix: The Life and Afterlife of a Jazz Legend.
Wolfe said the evidence for the statutory rape allegations are very weak and he doubts them, noting the charge was dropped and the case never actually went to trial. He believes Bix’s reputation as a drunkard and n’er do-well was the source of it.
I highly recommend that biography - while it defends that particular allegation, it does not downplay or sugarcoat Bix’s dark side at all. It’s a good read.
Thank you SO much for sharing that, Tory (and for reading!!). Since posting this last last night (or I guess actually very early this morning), a reader and friend who loves history has located that exact book at the library and propsed we do a little book club together. We're also possibly going to hit up that museum. Thanks again for sharing this - very intereting!
Hey - I'd be interested in joining you guys for both, if that's not too pushy, lol. I am a local history buff. Besides, our little band of Iowa Writers Collaborative authors in the Quads needs to stick together!
…and I’ve been mulling over ideas kinda like this very thing for many months!! Stay tuned!
Here is an interview with Wolfe from when I was digital content manager at WQAD in which he discusses the issue: https://www.wqad.com/article/news/entertainment/author-from-davenport-launches-book-after-14-years-of-finding-bix/526-e3601703-d373-45d1-976f-d0e477ce3f6e?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Ah! Thank you for this! Quite interesting. (And good reporting.) It's cool that the author himself is a Davenport native. I'm putting his book on hold at DPL right now!
Also, I probably should've mentioned in my post that there IS an annual Bix jazz fest, etc.
I had no idea, either!