55th Bix Jazz Festival Is On Tap This Weekend in Davenport
The 55th Bix Jazz Festival celebrates its emerald anniversary with events highlighting Bix Beiderbecke’s collaborations with Jean Goldkette (1893-1962), the jazz pianist and bandleader. The 2026 festival will also recognize the festival’s new home as a program of Common Chord.
The festival begins Thursday, July 30, with a session from 5 p.m. to 9:45 p.m., at Rhythm City Casino, 7077 Elmore Ave., Davenport. Festival events continue 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, July 31, and 11 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1.
The cost for festival sessions at Rhythm City Casino ranges from $50 for a single session pass to $205 for a VIP pass. Tickets are available at www.commonchordqc.org/bix, by phone at 563-324-7170, or at the door.
Highlights for this year’s 55th-annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival. (credit: Common Chord)
Special events for this year include a showing of silent film comedies of the 1920s with live accompaniment at The Last Picture House (325 E. 2nd St., Davenport) and a post-festival jazz quartet concert in the Redstone Room at Common Chord, Davenport.
The Last Picture House, Davenport, will host a screening of silent film comedies of the 1920s at noon Thursday, July 30. The event features accompaniment from Jeff Barnhart on piano and Josh Duffee with percussion sound effects to provide the live soundtrack to these films. Admission is $15. To buy tickets, visit www.commonchordqc.org/bix or call 563-324-7170.
Jazz drummer Josh Duffee (left) with Bix Jazz Society board member James Beiderbecke. (credit: Josh Duffee)
Also new is the Sunday Session in the Redstone Room at Common Chord, 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 2, presenting a variety of jazz from a quartet of Bix Jazz Festival stars. The concert, an all-seated show with a full bar, features Dave Bennett, Dave Kosmyna, Steve Pikal, and Adler Schiedt. Admission is $10 or free with any festival pass. Seating is limited for this event. Purchase tickets through the festival website at www.commonchordqc.org/bix.
Friday, July 31, 9:15-10 p.m., Jeff Barnhart’s Fats Waller Legacy Band presents “When Louis Met Bix”
The 55th-annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival will be July 30-Aug. 1 at Davenport’s Rhythm City Casino Event Center (credit: Common Chord)
The full listing of festival events is as follows:
Thursday, July 30
- Silent Film Comedies of the 1920s with Jeff Barnhart and Josh Duffee noon at The Last Picture House, Davenport. This is a ticketed event; visit www.commonchordqc.org/bix.
- Free one-hour concert in the Putnam Museum’s Grand Lobby with Chicago Cellar Boys featuring Bix’s cornet 3 p.m. at the Putnam Museum, 1717 W. 12th St., Davenport.
- Festival session with five bands, including the Bix Youth Band, 5-9:45 p.m. at Rhythm City Casino. For festival tickets, visit www.commonchordqc.org/bix.
Friday, July 31
- Celebration Belle Riverboat Cruise with lunch and live music from T.J. Muller’s Jazz-O-Maniacs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Celebration Belle, Moline.
- Festival sessions with five bands including the Bix Youth Band, 11 a.m. to 3:35 p.m., followed by another session with six bands 4:45-10 p.m. at Rhythm City Casino. The Friday evening session features open dance instruction by Jeanette Watts.
Saturday, Aug. 1
- Traditional free concert at Bix’s gravesite with a performance by Mike Davis’ New Wonders and a parade of historical cars 10 a.m. at Oakdale Memorial Gardens, 2501 Eastern Ave., Davenport.
- Festival sessions with six bands 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., followed by another session with seven performances 4:45-10:15 p.m. at Rhythm City Casino.
Sunday, Aug. 2
- Bix Jazz Liturgy 9:30 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 1702 Iowa St., Davenport. Bix Festival musicians join the FPC Sanctuary Choir for a Bix-inspired church service. This free event is open to the public.
- Sunday Session in the Redstone Room with Dave Bennett, Dave Kosmyna, Steve Pikal, and Adler Schiedt 2 p.m. at The Redstone Room at Common Chord, 131 W. 2nd St., Davenport. This is a ticketed event; visit www.commonchordqc.org/bix.
There is a new 27-minute video biography on Bix (1903-1931), available on the Forgotten Quad Cities Facebook page, which posted on April 26. It’s called “Chasing a Ghost: Bix Beiderbecke and the Lost Sound of the Jazz Age.”
The gravesite at Davenport’s Oakdale Memorial Gardens for Davenport native Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931). (credit:Bix Beiderbecke Museum)
“Even after a deep dive, what I’ve come away with is that Bix was a sphinx. Few people felt like they truly knew him, even those closest to him,” the Facebook page says accompanying the video. “He came of age in a time and place where people didn’t share much of their inner lives, and he was more guarded than most. He had few close relationships, and even his good friends said that he was virtually unknowable to them.
“I’ve tried to tell his story as honestly as possible. The good, the bad, and the ugly. He grew up in a wealthy, if emotionally distant, family. He was musically gifted in a way that’s hard to explain. He got into trouble back at home, was sent away to boarding school, and quickly flunked out after spending too much time in jazz clubs. He was a shooting star, burning bright and fast. He recorded his best-known work before he turned 25 and, in doing so, helped redefine how jazz could be played. It was the way he played that made him different.
Musicians performed at the Bix gravesite at Davenport’s Oakdale Memorial Gardens, as part of the Bix jazz festival. (credit: Common Chord)
“We live in a time where jazz has evolved far beyond what it was then. But as it spread out of New Orleans, it was reshaped by a kid from Davenport who heard something different and became so obsessed he couldn’t do anything else.
“He died too young, his talent barely tapped. But in death, his reputation only grew. He came to be seen as one of the first true originators of a distinctly American music, and his recordings still matter to serious musicians today.”
For more information about the Bix festival, schedule of events, and tickets, visit www.commonchordqc.org/bix/festival.
Common Chord, based in downtown Davenport (2nd and Main streets), is a nonprofit working to build a more vibrant and welcoming community, fueled by music in all its forms. Founded in 2004 as the River Music Experience, the organization has continued to adapt and respond to community needs over its 22-year history. Common Chord provides accessible, inclusive music education programming and concert programs to more than 50,000 people each year. For more information, visit www.commonchordqc.org.
A new video biography on Bix, called “Chasing a Ghost,” was produced by Forgotten Quad Cities (credit: Forgotten Quad Cities)
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