This weekend, downtown Davenport will be full of music for the 41st annual Bix Jazz Festival. Hundreds of people will enjoy the sounds of jazz while remembering a music legend who was born in the Quad Cities.
The festival is organized every year by the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society. Founded in 1972, the organization’s main goal is to keep Bix Beiderbecke’s memory alive. The cornetist, pianist, and composer was born in Davenport in 1903. Some call Bix one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s alongside Louis Armstrong. With beautiful tone and a gift for improvisation, Bix helped invent the Jazz “ballad” style before he died at the young age of 28 1931. He passed away in the beginning of August, which is why the festival is held around that time.
This year, nearly a dozen bands will perform over three days at the RiverCenter, Adler Theatre, and LeClaire Park. You can find a complete schedule of this weekend’s performances as well as ticket information at http://www.bixsociety.org/index.html.
