Bix Beiderbecke and New Orleans

This article considers the process by which the cornetist, pianist, and composer Leon 'Bix' Beiderbecke became an iconic presence in the New Orleans jazz imagination. It examines the influence of New Orleans jazz musicians on Beiderbecke and his reciprocal influence on them, tracking numerous exchanges which transgressed class, racial, and geographical boundaries. It details the various means by which contact was achieved and seeks to demonstrate the ways in which a musical idiom that originated within a regionally discrete cultural setting was enriched and duly expanded by collaborations occurring both within and outside of New Orleans.