Page "Bix Beiderbecke" Paragraph 42

When he died, Beiderbecke was little known except among fellow musicians, and for several years critics paid his music little mind.

As Jean Pierre Lion has pointed out, " the only serious and analytical obituary to have been published in the months " after his death was by a Frenchman, Hugues Panassié.

The notice appeared in October 1931 and began with a bit of hyperbole and an incorrect fact, two hallmarks of much of the subsequent writing about Beiderbecke: " The announcement of Bix Beiderbecke's death plunged all jazz musicians into despair.

We first believed it was a false alarm, as we had heard so often before about Bix.

Unfortunately, precise information has been forthcoming, and we even know the day — August 7 — when he passed away.