| Bix Beiderbecke and the Wolverine Orchestra |
| Born at the Stockton Club, a Hamilton,
Ohio roadhouse, in October 1923, the Wolverine Orchestra was a short-lived
band that was notable for its hot, driving sound. Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke
was undoubtedly the star of the band, but the rest were certainly
competent musicians in their own right. Critics have disparaged the
band, saying that Bix was held back by mediocre sidemen, but at the
time, the Wolverines were considered one of the best territory bands
in the Midwest. Their use of a fast, swinging rhythm they called “sock
time,” accenting the first beat heavily and the third beat less so,
made them extremely popular with young dancers.
All the rage with the college crowd, the Wolverines also played for dances at Miami University of Ohio and for fraternity parties while continuing to perform as the house band for Doyle’s. Then, on 18 February, the Wolverines waxed their first sides at the Gennett studios in Richmond. They recorded “Fidgety Feet,” “Jazz Me Blues,” ‘Lazy Daddy,” and “Sensation,” all popularized earlier by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Of these, only the first two were released; the Wolverines remade the latter two sides later that year. At the end of March 1924, the Wolverines decided to take a job in Indianapolis, but Doyle’s management wouldn’t let them out of their contract and held their instruments hostage. That night, band members broke into the building and reclaimed their property, then sped off to Indiana. Trombonist Al Gandee decided not to accompany the band, and remained in Cincinnati. The Indianapolis job fell through, but the Wolverines played as a backup band for the Butler College prom, then at several other venues throughout Indiana. Toward the end of April and into May, they played a series of dances at Indiana University. There, Hoagy Carmichael—who had met Bix a couple of years earlier and wasn’t impressed with his playing—changed his opinion drastically. Carmichael got the band a number of college dance jobs in Bloomington, where they stayed until the spring semester finished at the end of May. On May 6, the Wolverines recorded one of Hoagy’s own compositions, a tune he called “Freewheeling.” The Wolverines liked the tune, but didn’t like the name and suggested other ideas. The notes reminded Bix of a riverboat, and Bobby Gillette thought the rhythm had a shuffle to it, so it ended up as “Riverboat Shuffle.” After their college engagement was finished, the Wolverines got a job at the Casino Gardens, a dance hall in Indianapolis. At first, they drew a good crowd, but attendance fell off, and they were cancelled on June 24. The band recorded again on June 20, and released “Royal Garden Blues,” “Tiger Rag,” and “I Need Some Pettin’.” Drummer Vic Berton had heard the Wolverines in Indianapolis, and liked their
sound. He became their manager, and eventually replaced Vic Moore on drums.
Throughout the summer of 1924, Berton got the band numerous jobs in Michigan and
Indiana, mostly in the Indianapolis area. At the beginning of August, the
Wolverines opened at the Marquette Park Pavilion in Gary, Indiana, and played a
month there. At the beginning of September, they headed for New York, where they
opened at the Cinderella Ballroom, still standing at 1600 Broadway. On the 18th,
the band recorded its first session at the Gennett studios on East 37th Street,
with Vic Moore returning as the drummer. One of the tunes released was “Lazy
Daddy,” an old Original Dixieland Jazz Band number, featuring George Brunies on
kazoo; the other was “Sensation.” On October 8, the Wolverines recorded again at Gennett’s New York studio, the
group’s last session with Bix on cornet. Bandleader Jean Goldkette had offered
Bix a job with one of his units, and the money was too good to refuse. Bix went
all out on his last Wolverines recording, not only playing his usual cornet, but
also soloing on piano on “Big Boy.” After the piano solo, Bix is heard again on
cornet after only a few beats. The following day, Bix recorded again, this time
with Frank Trumbauer, Miff Mole, Min Leibrook, Vic Moore, and Rube Bloom, under
the name “Sioux City Six.” The Wolverines tried to find a replacement for Bix. They had asked Paul
Mares, formerly of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, but the job didn’t pay enough
for him. Eventually, Jimmy McPartland came out from Chicago to audition. Bix
approved him on the spot, and took McPartland under his wing, even picking out a
new Conn Victor cornet for him (and making Dick Voynow pay for it).
Unfortunately, Bix’s first stint with the Goldkette Orchestra lasted only about
7 weeks; his inability to read music was a handicap in a band that depended on
tightly written arrangements. Meanwhile, the Wolverines continued to play at the Cinderella, but were
cancelled on December 26 and replaced by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Their
last recordings, “When My Sugar Walks Down the Street” and “Prince of Wails,”
were made on December 5 and 12 respectively. Hoping to find success in Florida,
the Wolverines instead lost Vic Moore to a family real estate business, and Min
Leibrook to the Arnold Johnson Band. By the end of 1925, the rest of the
original band members had left, and only Jimmy McPartland remained. He tried to
fill out the band with members of the Austin High Gang, sometimes playing as
“Husk O’Hare’s Wolverines.” The band finally dissolved in late 1926, when
McPartland left to join Art Kassel’s orchestra. Bix returned to the Gennett studio in Richmond in January of 1925 with his own band, which included Tommy Dorsey on trombone. The group, called “Bix and his Rhythm Jugglers” recorded one of Bix’s own compositions, “Davenport Blues,” along with “Toddlin’ Blues,” a LaRocca-Shields number. Two other tunes were recorded, but never released; Bix and the boys had been hitting the bottle heavily, and the quality of the music suffered accordingly. Leon Bix Beiderbecke was born on 10 March 1903 to a prosperous middle-class family of German heritage. He was considered something of a musical prodigy, making the newspapers at age 7 for his ability to pick out tunes on the piano. After hearing the recordings of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band around 1918, he became enamored of Nick LaRocca’s cornet playing and decided to learn that instrument. Not the best of students, his schoolwork went downhill. Bix was then sent to military school at Lake Forest Academy, where he was expected to buckle down and study. Fortunately for Bix, his new school was not too far from Chicago; whenever he could get away, he would take the train to the city and listen to the New Orleans Rhythm Kings at Friar’s Inn. Sometimes, they even let him sit in. At first, his efforts were not appreciated by the other musicians. When New Orleans cornetist played Davenport in 1920, Bix used to come to the band’s rooming house to practice with him. Trombone player Santo Pecora used to complain to Hardy, “Can’t you get that kid out of here? He gives me a headache!” Later, when Bix played New Orleans with the Paul Whiteman band, he reminded Pecora of those days, and Pecora told him, “You sure play beautifully now.” Some of these early influences no doubt helped to shape Bix’s unique style. He listened over and over to LaRocca’s recordings and the live performances of Paul Mares, perhaps even picking up some of the phrasing from Leon Roppolo’s clarinet solos. It is not certain exactly how much tutoring Bix received from Emmett Hardy; since Hardy never recorded, his technique and sound remain a mystery. Whatever elements Bix may have picked up from others, he fused into something completely his own. He is known primarily for his pure tone, rarely leaving the middle register, and for his beautifully composed solos. After recording the Bix’s Rhythm Jugglers session, Beiderbecke played with bands in New York and Chicago, then signed on with one of the Goldkette units for a summer engagement at Island Lake, Michigan. In the fall of 1925, he joined saxophonist Frank Trumbauer’s orchestra, which opened in St. Louis at the Arcadia Ballroom. Trumbauer was offered a job as leader of the Jean Goldkette Orchestra in Detroit, and accepted with the condition that Bix be hired as well. Goldkette agreed, and in May, the band began its 1926 summer season at Hudson Lake, Indiana. Bix stayed with the Goldkette orchestra until it folded for financial reasons in September 1927. After a two-week stint with Adrian Rollini, he joined the Paul Whiteman Orchestra at the end of October. Whiteman’s orchestra was the first of the big bands, and played music more to the general public’s taste than did some of Bix’s other bands. Bix was generally reserved for a few hot solos, but also learned to play some of the more complicated ensemble arrangements. He also composed several classically-inspired piano solos, and even recorded one himself, called “In A Mist.” During Bix’s tenure with Whiteman, his alcoholism caused him frequent health problems, including a bout with pneumonia and weakness in his legs, and finally resulted in his stay at a rehab clinic in Illinois. He managed to remain sober for a short time while staying with his family, but when he rejoined the orchestra, he quickly went back to his old ways. The quality of his playing diminished, and he sometimes failed to show up—or stay awake—for work. Bix Beiderbecke died in his Queens apartment on August 6, 1931 of lobar pneumonia. Author: Suzanne Fischer Selected Bibliography Kennedy, Rick. Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994. Spencer, Frederick J. Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002. Sudhalter, Richard M. Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz 1915-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999 Discography 2-18-24 (Gennett) 5-6-24 (minus Gandee) 6-20-24 9-16-24 10-7-24 Jimmy McPartland replaces Bix on the following: 12-5-24 12-12-24 |
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