BIX: “Ain’t None of Them Play Like Him Yet” / Film School Radio interview with Director Brigette Berman

BIX: “Ain’t None of Them Play like Him Yet” chronicles the life and music of cornetist/pianist/composer Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke (1903-1931) regarded by many as jazz's man who got away. Born in Davenport, Iowa into an upper middle-class family, Beiderbecke became a legend even in his short lifetime, bringing an amazing new energy and unprecedented maturity to the music and influencing generations of musicians. After years of battling alcoholism, Bix died in Sunnyside, Queens on August 6, 1931. The cause of death was given as lobar pneumonia. He was 28. Using archival photographs and rare footage (including the three sole momentary fragments capturing Bix on film) and interviews with friends and colleagues (including jazz greats Hoagy Carmichael, Doc Cheatham, Artie Shaw, et al.), Berman’s acclaimed documentary paints a vivid portrait of a vanished era and brings to life the only trumpeter Louis Armstrong regarded as an equal (the quotation in the film’s title was once spoken by Armstrong). Long cherished by aficionados as the greatest film ever made about a jazz musician, BIX has also been one of the most difficult to see, with few theatrical screenings, a fleeting home video release and never available via streaming. Academy Award winning director Brigette Berman (Artie Shaw: Time is All You Got, River of My Dreams) joins us to talk about the blazing comet of a musician who was fundamental to the development of America’s most vital musical genre, jazz, as well as the impact his playing had on those who played with him and those who heard him.