Sunday Music Blogging: The last benchmark on the way to spring

After Christmas, there are a few benchmarks that mark the progression to spring. The first benchmark is the Super Bowl, the second is the Oscars®, the third is the day pitchers and catchers report for spring training, the fourth is the first spring training Mets game broadcast on television.

And the very last one is WKCR's Bix Beiderbecke birthday broadcast (stream here).

Bix's birthday is March 10, and I expect Phil Schaap and others to do their annual 24-hour marathon showcases of the entire Beiderbecke oeuvre -- which is alas limited by the fact that Beiderbecke drank himself to death at the age of 28.

Here's an excerpt from the Ken Burns series Jazz, detailing Bix' tragic fall. Even Louis Armstrong admired the white boy from Davenport, Iowa. When you look at Bix' artistic genius and inability to escape his own head, his story seems not so much different from that of Heath Ledger and the many other prodigies in their various endeavors.

And this is Bix as he's supposed to sound, played on a crank Victrola.

(I have one of the latter, but sweet Jesus would I love to get my hands on some original Bix discs...)

Happy 105th birthday, Bix. Hope you and Satchmo now finally are able to celebrate by playing duets together in the Great Beyond.