Stephanie Chuang

Professor Thomas Collier

MUS 131

5 May 2020

Louis Armstrong vs. Bix Beiderbecke

Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke were renowned jazz trumpeters beginning in the

1920s. Louis came from New Orleans, the often credited birthplace of jazz, where he had learned

jazz through his mentor, Joe “King” Oliver. Bix however, was a Chicago native and former

classical piano player who incorporated his classical teachings into his Chicago style. Louis

Armstrong played with an intense, experienced technique and revolutionized the idea of solo

improvisation. Bix had unconventional technique, and a style that was closer to Miles Davis’

cool jazz. Overall, both were highly experienced trumpet players who carved their own unique

path through jazz history, creating and changing styles to make them their own, and influence

future jazz musicians for generations to come.

Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a child, he worked for a

Jewish family who helped him get his own cornet (Louis Armstrong House Museum).

Eventually, he started being mentored by Joe “King” Oliver, and joined his band in Chicago

(Gridley 75). His most famous recording from his time there was “Dippermouth Blues,” a song

named after Joe “King” Oliver’s nickname for Louis Armstrong (Gridley 75). As far as his style

goes, Louis Armstrong broke away from several commonly known jazz rules and established his

own way of playing. According to Mark Gridley in ​Jazz Styles,​ “Armstrong showed that the New

Orleans technique of collective improvisation need not be the only approach to jazz horn work.”
Prior to Armstrong, improvisation was often done in groups. Armstrong instead started

improvising individually, pushing the boundaries for solo improvisation. Additionally, Doug

Ramsey of the ​Jazz Times​ states in his article, “Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Five and

Hot Seven Recordings,” “He was improvising on chord changes at least as early as 1925, long

before it is generally acknowledged that jazz incorporated this approach.” Armstrong’s decision

to link his improvised solos with specific chords was a decision that would become the

foundation for jazz improvisation for generations to come. Armstrong eventually left Joe”‘King”

Oliver’s band to form his own group, Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five, which eventually became

Louis Armstrong’s Hot Seven. With these groups, he recorded some of his most well known

songs, like “Heebie Jeebies” or “West End Blues” (Collier 14-15). In these recordings, he is said

to have imparted “irresistible momentum by his placement of notes, the value he gives them and

his use of vibrato” (Ramsey). In particular, Ramsey states that in “West End Blues,” “Armstrong

had established swing at a level of sophistication and subtlety that would not be equaled until

Lester Young came along in the middle of the next decade.” In addition to dramatizing the

concept of the jazz solo Louis Armstrong was also very technically skilled at the trumpet. Mark

Gridley says, “Armstrong’s command of the trumpet was arguably greater than that of any

preceding jazz trumpeter who recorded. It became a model to which others aspired. He had an

enormous, brazzy tone, and remarkable range. Altogether with his rhythmic and dramatic sense,

he conveyed a certainty and surging power.” Armstrong’s tone was dramatic and bold and his

expert technique meant that he could push himself to the extremes of his range while also

improvising interesting and difficult rhythms; it’s no surprise that his skill was so renowned. In a

time where most improvisers only embellished or paraphrased melodies, Louis Armstrong took
bold steps and would leave the melody entirely while staying compatible with the melody’s

chord progressions. His approach wasn’t as “safe” as only changing parts of the melody, but he

revolutionized the concept of improvisation. Gridley claims that “Armstrong popularized the

musical vocabulary of the New Orleans trumpet and then extended it.” While Louis Armstrong’s

playing had its roots in the New Orleans jazz style and was heavily influenced by his mentor, Joe

“King” Oliver, he eventually changed it to make it his own. Overall, Louis Armstrong was a

phenomenal trumpet player who had roots from the “birthplace of jazz,” New Orleans, but

developed his style to include dramatic, challenging, brassy solo improvisations that made daring

leaps away from the commonly accepted style of group improvisations and melody phrasing.

Bix Beiderbecke was another highly respected jazz trumpetist at the same time as Louis

Armstrong. Bix was a white Chicago native, and originally started out as a piano player.

However, after hearing Louis Armstrong play on a docked boat on the Davenport river, he

started to teach himself cornet (Collier 20). Eventually, Bix joined The Wolverines, a group that

he recorded and toured with in New York City (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Because Bix taught

himself how to play the cornet by imitating recordings, he developed an unconventional

technique. Gridley says, “Beiderbecke was almost as original and creative as Armstrong, but he

had less command over his instrument and a bit cooler sound.” His lack of formal training

resulted in a couple different unique aspects of his playing. His range was more constricted, his

tone was not as brash, and his rhythms were simpler. However, this isn’t to say that he wasn’t a

good trumpet player. “Beiderbecke emphasized the cornet’s middle register, using simple

rhythms and diatonic harmonies. His attack was precise, and his tone, often described as ‘golden’

and ‘bell-like,’ was consistent and pure” (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Despite his training,
Beiderbecke was able to take the skills he did develop to still create a style of his own that was

softer and lyrical. Gridley also mentions that “​If the simplicity of his materials made

Beiderbecke’s playing seem delicate, the vitality of his lyric imagination—he had a rare ability

to create melodies, embellishments, and melodic variations—demonstrated his strength.” Any

technical difficulties Bix might’ve had, he made up for with his expression and imagination. Bix

was also a skilled improviser. Gerald Gold, in his article “Early Jazz Figures Toast Bix

Beiderbecke” in the New York Times, quotes Bill Challis, an arranger for an orchestra Bix

played in, as saying “​how he would arrange numbers for the Whiteman orchestra, leaving 8- or

16-bar openings for Beiderbecke to improvise in, and noting that Bix never disappointed him in

rising to the occasion.” Bix may not have had the technical prowess of most jazz musicians, but

he handled improvisation and expression just as well. ​An important influence of Bix’s playing

was the classical piano instruction he received as a child. Gridley mentions that “Beiderbecke

was also a composer who blended ragtime and jazz with the French Impressionist style of

Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy.” Bix often drew from his classical roots when composing,

something that’s evident in “Candlelights” and “Into the Mist.” Bix is widely known as the first

great white jazz musician, and if his life had not come to such an early end, he might be more of

a household name. To summarize, Bix’s playing fit within the Chicago jazz style and had

unconventional techniques with some classical influences. He was a skilled improviser who was

incredibly lyrical and expressive.

Both Louis and Bix were skilled jazz trumpeters of the day. However, several differences

existed between them. Gridley states, “Beiderbecke was almost as original and creative as

Armstrong, but he had less command over his instrument and a bit cooler sound. Beiderbecke’s
tone was softer, lighter weight, and less brassy than Armstrong’s.” While Louis opted for bold

and dramatic solos, Bix was more partial to a cooler sound with lyrical expressions. Gridley says,

“Beiderbecke’s style gave young trumpeters an alternative to the model Louis provided.”

Although his early death meant a much shorter career than Louis’, Beiderbecke choosing his

own style meant his own legacy for jazz musicians. Additionally, Louis received his training

from Joe “King” Oliver, another skilled jazz musician who had roots in New Orleans. Bix

learned the cornet on his own, and adapted the Chicago style of jazz with French Impressionist

influences. Rhythmically, Louis’ playing featured elements of swing and groove while Bix

employed ragtime phrasing (Collier 21). Louis formed his own jazz ensembles that performed

extensively in Chicago and New York, while Bix’s short life didn’t allow him to join as many or

make as many recordings. Louis once said this of Bix, “​Every note he blew was so beautiful. I

like that "Singin' The Blues" record and things like that. Nobody else gonna blow like he did. I

never did play that tune because of Bix. I didn't want anybody to mess with it” (Collier).

Regardless of the fact that Bix hadn’t had proper training and his style was different from Louis’,

Louis was obviously impressed with Bix’s playing, even going so far as to abstain from a piece

in honor of his memory and skill. Both musicians rose to fame around the same time, and they

admired each other. After all, Bix decided to pick up Cornet after hearing Louis play. Both Louis

and Bix were also incredibly improvisers, in spite of their differences. While both Louis and Bix

improvised based on chord changes, Bix also took care to add in unusual note combinations.

Altogether, the main differences between Louis and Bix reside in their contrasting musical

influences and tutelage, or lack thereof in Bix’s case. Both Louis and Bix were incredibly

admired and skilled, and it would be wrong to say one is necessarily better than the other, for
they both provided their unique interpretations and expressions that have shaped how musicians

play jazz to this very day.

 Works Cited

Louis Armstrong Home Museum. “Louis Armstrong Biography.” ​Louis Armstrong Home

Museum​, Louis Armstrong Home Museum, 2016,

www.louisarmstronghouse.org/biography/.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Bix Beiderbecke.” ​Encyclopædia Britannica​,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 6 Mar. 2020,

www.britannica.com/biography/Bix-Beiderbecke.

Ramsey, Doug. “Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings.”

JazzTimes,​ Madavor Media, LLC, 1 Oct. 2000,

jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/louis-armstrong-the-complete-hot-five-and-hot-seven-rec

ordings/.

Gold, Gerald. “EARLY JAZZ FIGURES TOAST BIX BEIDERBECKE.” ​The New York Times,​

The New York Times, 10 Aug. 1981,

www.nytimes.com/1981/08/10/arts/early-jazz-figures-toast-bix-beiderbecke.html?search

ResultPosition=3.

“Early Jazz: Combo Jazz Prior to the 1930s.” ​Jazz Styles: History and Analysis,​ by Mark C.

Gridley, 11th ed., Pearson, 2012, pp. 75–82.

“Early Jazz: New Orleans Style.” ​History of Jazz: Lecture Notes and Listening Examples,​ by

Tom Collier, Kendall Hunt, 2012, pp. 13–15.

“Chicago Jazz.” ​History of Jazz: Lecture Notes and Listening Examples,​ by Tom Collier,

Kendall Hunt, 2012, pp. 19–23.