Talk starts: 1:30PM Saturday, March 9th
Tickets: this is a free event for the public!
Location: Davenport Public Library Eastern Branch 6000 Eastern Ave, Davenport, IA 52807
In celebration of the centennial of Bix Beiderbecke's first recorded music, join the Bix Beiderbecke Museum, and the Richardson Sloan Special Collections Center in "Bix Beiderbecke and Gennett Records: A Conversation with Dr. Charlie Dahan and Bob Jacobsen".
Cornetist/pianist/composer Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke (1903-1931), born in Davenport, Iowa, became a jazz legend in his short lifetime, bringing an amazing new energy and unprecedented maturity to the music and influencing generations of musicians. In 1924, Bix and a group of musicians known as the Wolverines Orchestra recorded their first music at a small studio in Richmond, IN named Gennett Records. As the recording branch of the Starr Piano Company, this studio produced some of the earliest recordings by music greats such as Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, and Hoagy Carmichael, and produced for others such as Jelly Roll Morton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, and Gene Autry. Join Dr. Charlie Dahan and Bob Jacobsen as they discuss the little-known history of this important company and its mark on American culture.
Dr. Charlie Dahan is a professor in the Recording Industry Department at Middle Tennessee State University. He has co-authored two books on Gennett Records, including the soon-to-be-released discography through UCSB’s Discography of American Historical Records and three successful National Register for Historic Places nominations: FAME Studios, Hank Snow’s Rainbow Ranch, and the King Records Buildings. His book Don’t Lose Your Good Thing: Saving America’s Historic Recording Places will be released by SUNY Press in 2024. He serves on the boards of the King Records Legacy Foundation, the Starr-Gennett Foundation (Advisory), and Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Previously he was the A&R Director at Shanachie Records and a talent agent with the Roots Agency.
Bob Jacobsen is the former President and current board member of the Starr-Gennett Foundation and has lived in Richmond since 1986. He has spent his life studying the history of Richmond and the importance of the Starr Piano Company in his community and the history of American music. As a fan of Bix and Hoagy Carmichael, Bob is an advocate for the legacy of these musicians and all of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame inductees that the Starr-Gennett Foundation maintains.