The 50th anniversary Bix Beiderbecke jazz festival in Bix’s hometown of Davenport, Iowa, got underway in its usual fashion on Thursday afternoon, August 5, with a free one-hour concert at the Putnam Museum, which houses Bix’s 1927 Conn cornet. This year it was played by Scott Davis of the NOLA Jazz Band from Des Moines, one of nine bands headlining the festival. With a surge in the Delta variant of COVID, the museum required all attendees to wear masks, and seating in the theater was limited to alternate rows. In previous years that I have attended this concert, it was held in the spacious main lobby. But another event was scheduled there so we were moved to more comfortable seats in tiered rows in the theater.
The 50th anniversary festival should have occurred last year but COVID reduced it to an online-only event, a fate that befell almost all festivals. This year’s edition was a combination of live and online. The effect on attendance will not be known until after the fact, but Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society President Steve Trainor told me that in-person registrations were favorable. He said the Society expected to lose money on streaming but felt it was necessary to sow the seeds for the future. Perhaps some people who watched online this year will attend in person next year.
The perennially over-air conditioned Rhythm City Casino was otherwise the only festival venue. N
