If you just can't wait until July to hear live, traditional jazz music, you should travel to southeast Wisconsin this weekend. The 28th annual Tribute to Bix Beiderbecke is being held Thursday through Sunday.
The founder and still organizer is Phil Pospychala who says he first heard Bix when he was a teenager.
"Once I heard Bix's tone, I just could not imagine listening to anything else. Then when you hear his rhythmic and harmonic influence on everybody and what a giant he was."
He first came up with the idea for the Bix tribute while traveling home from a jazz festival in Saint Louis in the late 80's. It started in 1990, and there have been big crowds ever since, including more and more young people.
Pospychala says he send flyers to libraries, newspapers, and radio and tv stations. And he even targets empty newspaper boxes in downtown Chicago every year too.
"I go and spend one afternoon - it takes 4 to 5 hours - and go up and down every street in the Loop and out on Michigan Avenue. I try to put one flyer in the window and put the other flyers inside."
His festival also includes a record playing room where the serious collectors gather after the Friday night concert.
"We play old original issue 78's, just the good stuff from the 20's and early 30's We have such a good time, it lasts until dawn."
The 28th Annual Tribute to Bix in Racine is being held in the Delta Hotel, formerly the Marriott. More information is at bixfest.com.
