The 49th annual Bix Beiderbacke Jazz Festival is going online to bring the Quad Cities its annual fix of live jazz.
The Bix Jazz Society will be holding the festival on YouTube on July 31st from 6p.m. to 9 p.m. and August 1st from 5 p.m.to 9 p.m.
Scheduled to play for the festival are seven bands: Joe Smith and the Spicy Pickles (Denver); Chicago Cellar Boys, led by Andy Schumm; Vine Street Rumble (Kansas City); NOLA (Des Moines); and from the Quad Cities, Josh Duffee Quartet, Manny Lopez Big Band, and the Bix Youth Band, comprised of QCA teens.
The Society says that the festival is usually one of the major ways they acquire funds to pay operating expenses for the following year, but the challenges 2020 has provided so far have made made for an unusual year. The Society is opening a donation line to help offset the cost of the festival and continue the other programs they run, including Bix history, sponsoring the Bix Youth Jazz Band, and music scholarships.
For more information and future updates, visit the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society website.