Bix on the Big Screen

Date: March 19th, 2023
Time: 2:30 pm.
Price: General Admission $7.00, Seniors and Students $3.00
Location: In person at Kingsland Homestead,

Get Tickets Here

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Bix on the Big Screen

“Ain’t none of them play like him yet!” – Louis Armstrong

Join us at Queens Historical Society on Sunday March 19 at 2:30pm for a special screening of the rarely seen 1981 Classic Documentary “BIX” directed by Academy Award winning filmmaker Brigitte Berman.  

Cornetist / pianist / composer Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke (1903-1931) was jazz’s man who got away – the James Dean, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain of his day. 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 battling alcoholism, Bix died in Sunnyside on August 6, 1931. The cause of death was 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.), Oscar® winner Brigitte Berman’s acclaimed documentary (which won the Bronze Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival) paints a vivid portrait of a vanished era and brings it back to life!