Roland Pilz, leader and cornetist of the Jazz O'Maniacs, is a frequent visitor to the Tribute to Bix.

Adventures at the 2008 Tribute to Bix

Text and Photos by Paige Van Vorst

The Bus Tour: Libertyville Breakdown

Phil Pospychala's Tributes to Bix (This one is number XIX) have generally included a bus tour of Chicago jazz landmarks, one feature that readily distinguishes the Tribute to Bix from most other festivals. The bus tour is not for the faint of heart. It usually involves almost 12 hours on a bus, though the trip is made more pleasant by watching videos of early movie musicals featuring jazz and hot dance bands, and, of course, there's nothing like spending the day with people who care as much about early jazz as you do.

The trip, held March 13, began in Racine, Wisc., and we headed quickly into Chicago. The first stops were in the Gold Coast area, where we visited the Knickerbocker and Drake Hotels, two posh vintage hotels on Lake Shore Drive. The Knickerbocker was formerly known as the Davis Hotel, and the hot dance orchestra of Al Handler recorded under the hotel's name. The Knickerbocker has one of the few surviving illuminated dance floors; at one time it was made entirely of glass blocks. The Drake, across the street, hosted the Paul Whiteman orchestra (with Bix) on several occasions. Both hotels have survived in good condition over the years, the result of being built in the right place. There is probably no more desirable location in Chicago than the intersection of North Michigan Ave and Lake Shore Drive.

Uwe Hanson of the Jazz O'Maniacs

The Bix Tribute group then headed into the Loop to explore what is left of three of the pioneering recording studios. Oddly enough, all three were located on Wabash Ave, which anyone in Chicago would not identify as a promising site for a recording studio as the L (elevated train) thunders past at all hours. Orlando Marsh was a visionary recording engineer who pioneered electric recording in the 1920s, and his Marsh Laboratories were located on both the east and west sides of Wabash at different times, in office buildings now occupied by DePaul University. Marsh was at the cutting edge of the recording industry until Western Electric developed a competing system which quickly became the industry standard for electric recording, relegating Marsh to footnote status.

Nevertheless, the Marsh Laboratories produced some important recordings. They recorded for Paramount and operated their own Autograph label. It is now believed that the Paramount recordings by the King Oliver band, which Marsh recorded, may have been electrically recorded. And he also produced one of the first superstar duets, capturing King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton for two fabulous sides, also perhaps electrically recorded. The space where this miracle of early recording was accomplished is a nondescript office, but I'm sure we detected some "molecules" in the air as Phil Pospychala played a tape of the Autograph sides in the very space where they were recorded.

The Brunswick Building is another aging office building converted into a college -- in this case, Columbia College. Appropriately enough, the space used by Brunswick Records is now occupied by the college's Center for Black Music Research, so the researchers occupy space once used to record King Oliver and his Dixie Syncopators, Jabbo Smith and his Rhythm Aces, Johnny Dodds' Black Bottom Stompers and countless other classic ensembles.

One stop on the bus tour was to visit the Knickerbocker Hotel, a posh vintage hotel with an illuminated dance floor where 1920s jazz fans kicked up their heels.

June 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.