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1929

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Turner's writings on jazz certainly qualify him to write such a book. Like others in this genre of historical fiction, he endeavors to blend historical figures with fictional ones through whose eyes we witness events that are part of the lore of the Bix Beiderbecke and Capone sagas.

I'm not sure what level of interest the narrative will hold for readers unfamiliar with Beiderbecke. I raise the question; I'm not making a judgment so don't let an absence of knowledge about Bix Beiderbecke make you retreat. However, I would characterize things this way: The conventional plot associated with the fictional historical witnesses seems to me to be secondary to the larger character study that tries to get us inside Bix's skin. General readers may find the book "compelling" rather than a "I-couldn't-put-it-down." To the extent that this book may have the most appeal for those who know at least something of the Bix Beiderbecke's story, this is also, ironically, the community that may most bristle at it. They may also embrace it for raising the profile of one of their most closely-held heroes. I hope so; I think Turner has set out to do what he has artfully.

Although I'm sure it wasn't feasible, one might wish that such a book could be accompanied by a CD that would allow general readers to hear for themselves that the claims made so eloquently for Bix's horn in Turner's book are, in fact, no fiction at all.

So, let me urge any of you who decide to read this book and have no prior introduction to Bix Beiderbecke, that you order at least one Bix collection to make your reading of the book a more complete experience.

One really doesn't know where to begin. 1929 starts in modern times, as the fictional graveside recollections of a former Al Capone Mob driver and mechanic of his late friend, the legendary Bix Beiderbecke. It then careens through the "Roaring 20's", following Bix's descent into alcoholism, illness, and eventual death in a wildly scattershot pattern.

In reading this book one wonders just how many of the stories related are apochryphal, and how many ended up in letters, diaries, memoirs, and biographies. The recollections of Charlie Chaplain, Buster Keaton, Paul Whiteman, Bing Crosby, Frankie Trumbauer, Hoagy Carmichle, Louis Armstrong, Clara Bow and many others are here.

The richness of the material excuses the sometimes roundabout storytelling, and details about needle beer, "smoke" (a denatured alchol drink that killed thousands), and a hundred other matters that haven't mattered since the end of prohibition show the writer to be very knowlegable about the details that were then concerns for the alligators and flappers of the speakeasy era. Bix Beiderbecke is at BEST a very enigmatic figure, and whose most legendary performances were never recorded. Bix's reputation and ability far exceed most any of the 78 r.p.m. records he ever cut with any group, and the author does a good job conveying the magic that so many of his fellow musicians recall. "Ain't none of them play like Bix", Louis Armstrong once recalled, and this book, although it can't show why, certainly tells many stories why so many Jazz enthusiasts still listen to every note the young man ever put down on shellac.

Someone once told me that it is impossible to adequately describe jazz music. He obviously hadn't read Fred Turner's book on Bix Beiderbecke. Part culture history, part semi-fictional biography of Bix, and always an artful celebration of that most-American of musical forms, this book is a masterpiece waiting to be discovered.

Why isn't this book a New York Times best seller?

Perhaps if you read this book you can explain this mystery to me. And if you read it, I guarantee that you are in for one of the best reads of your life.

ALthough it takes awhile to get into this book, it rewards the initial patience. 1929 spins a rich narrative about America in the jazz age, focused on the enigmatic Bix Beiderbecke but also creating sympathetic characters in the mob hangers on Helen and Henry Weiss.

'1929' manages to merge what we do know about Bix Beiderbecke with an illuminating and well-written novel that's true to the era it recreates. I am a 'Bixophile' myself, and had already read everything I could find about him, collect his recordings passionately and even follow the annual Davenport festival events. Still, even with the amazing detail we now have thanks to his several biographers and especially the Evans' masterpiece, Bix remains a man of savant brilliance who poses more questions than answers.

Turner's success in '1929' is his ability to weave the known with the plausible by creating characters who might have been part of the real events in Bix's life without interrupting it. The writing and detail are superb, with all the influential relationships among Bix the other musicians he befriended treated with obvious respect. Thankfully, the author never attempts to change Bix to fit, though the created characters do fill a few of the more troubling gaps in certain events.

Without any expectation of it, this read rewarded me with a deeper understanding of the enigmatic, hydrophobic and possibly mildly autistic musical genius who never mastered printed music and self-medicated with alcohol to cope. I would say that any Beiderbecke fan or scholar would take away a more defined understanding of the man and his world as well. Very highly recommended.

This book shines on so many levels it is hard to know where to begin. The author has captured the essence of Bix and his shooting star life most deeply: the lack of real caring about rigid reading and the insecurity which came to take hold at times because of it...the improvisational genius of his approach...the times in which he lived which ended up contributing to his demise, etc. Also the weaving of the tale of Bix within the milieu in which he was playing is masterful. As a musician who still can not really read or write and self-taught myself, this portrait of a man caught between fame, art, acceptance (Adoration..) and the desire to be a truly creative artist hits home to me in a way in which I can not really describe. Tortured much of his brief adult life, Bix and his situation are best summed up by arranger Bill Challis much later after Bix died where, at the "Bix-fest, he says,
"Maybe gunius is lucky if it can survive itself."
This book is a keeper, not because of the jazz which the author knows very well, but because of the human conditions, frailties, and settings which define and help to shape such genius. Improvisation is most certainly genius in the case of Bix, and yet the United States in 1929 really had not gotten that yet, even in jazz. Artists are constantly misunderstood, yet even more so when, as in Bixie's favorite expression from "Revolt In The Desert" - by Lawrence of Arabia, "NOTHING IS WRITTEN!" I highly recommend this book.

This is a very enjoyable book for those at least somewhat familiar with Bix Beiderbecke and 1920s jazz and pop culture. It's like an amusement park ride that starts out slow and then races along with wild twists and turns. Most of the characters are based on, or were, real people and you wonder just how much of this stuff really happened or if some of it happened and was taken to a high degree of exaggerated fantasy. Really fun reading, particularly for the little details Turner throws in here and there. "Young Man with a Horn" was never like this!

This novel based on the life of self-taught jazz pianist Bix Beiderbecke focuses on his career highlights and the evolution of the 1920s jazz scene, capturing a rich period in American music history by using the actual characters of the times and embellishing their stories. The result is a novel all the more compelling for its foundations in truth.

I dont particularly like Jazz .... but I loved this novel about it. Turner is a spellbinding storyteller who has spiced a sordid historical record with captivating fictional characters to produce a brilliant roman a clef.