The 54th Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival in Davenport, Iowa continued its tradition of excellence on July 31-August 3 at the perennially over-cooled Rhythm City Casino. What’s more, of the dozen-plus times I’ve attended this event, this was only the second I can recall when the weather matched the quality of the music. Although the music was entirely indoors, it was refreshing to step outside and not feel like you had entered a steam bath. The temperature never exceeded 80 the entire time, and the humidity was quite tolerable.
The kickoff event, though not an official part of the festival, was the Wednesday evening jam at Jim’s Knoxville Tap, a storied bar across the Mississippi in Milan, IL. Bix is reported to have gone there in his youth to listen to the bands. Several people remarked to me that if that had been the only event of the weekend, they would have gone home happy. The band this time consisted of Andy Schumm on cornet, Mike Davis on trombone (Mike played Miff Mole’s horn during the second set), Mike McQuaid and Richard Edsall from England on clarinets, TJ Muller on strings, Dave Bock on tuba, Paul Asaro on piano, and Josh Duffee on drums.
I also attended the annual free concert at the Putnam Museum, where Bix’s cornet is housed. Each year it is brought out and played by a member of the band on hand; this year that honor fell upon Colin Hancock, who arrived fr
