Video Review : ‘Bix’ Fails to Clarify Beiderbecke’s Genius

How do you separate fact from legend, authenticity from dramatic impact, in filming a movie based on an actual life?

The answer is not entirely clarified in “Bix: An Interpretation of a Legend,” which purports to tell the story of Leon Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931). An Italian/U.S. production, it was directed and co-written by Pupi Avati and shot partly on location in Davenport, Iowa (Beiderbecke’s home town), and other American locations.

That Beiderbecke was a genius can hardly be disputed. As a cornetist, he made a number of records in the late 1920s, mostly in partnership with the saxophonist Frank Trumbauer, that were timeless gems. As a pianist and composer, he wrote a brilliant series of impressionistic works, only one of which he recorded (“In a Mist”).

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Beiderbecke, played by Bryant Weeks (with sound track by Tom Pletcher) is depicted as a rebel, torn by love of family and the need to succeed in jazz. Plagued by alcoholism, drifting in and out of jobs with the bands of Paul Whiteman and others, he died almost unknown to the public.

One complaint lodged against the Charlie Parker film “Bird” was that it never clarified just what made him a unique artist. “Bix” has the same problem. Among many omissions, his interacting with black musicians (Louis Armstrong inspired him; trumpeter Rex Stewart even copied Beiderbecke’s famous “Singin’ the Blues” solo) is bypassed.

The movie never catches fire dramatically, but the credible traditional music, directed by saxophonist Bob Wilber and featuring pianist Keith Nichols, clarinetist Kenny Davern and others, justifies following the somewhat episodic story, which flashes back and forth in often confusing disorder.

* “Bix: An Interpretation of a Legend” is available on cassette from Rhapsody Films, Box 179, New York, NY 10014, $64.95.