Bix Museum’s New Location In Davenport Offers Pop-Up Exhibit for Bix 7 Weekend
In time for the Bix 7 road race Saturday morning, the Bix Beiderbecke Museum & Archives gave a sneak preview of its new space in downtown Davenport Friday, and will be continue to be open with a temporary pop-up exhibit Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The eight-year-old museum is moving across the street from its old location on the lower level of the Redstone building (131 W. 2nd St.) to a slightly larger space on the ground floor of 112 W. 2nd St., Davenport.
The Bix Museum is in the space formerly occupied by Junior Achievement BizTown, closest to the former Wells Fargo Bank branch, which closed in early 2024. It is dedicated to showcasing the life and times of Davenport native Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke (1903-1931), a legendary jazz cornetist, pianist and composer.
A traveling trunk used by Bix when he played with the famous Paul Whiteman Orchestra (photo by Jonathan Turner).
The museum relocation had some construction delays (from general contractor Allied Construction), and won’t be open for the Bix jazz festival in a week, but will feature the pop-up exhibit again, director Nate Kraft said
Friday morning. The soft opening is expected in mid-August, and a grand opening at the end of August, he said.
During the annual Bix race and festival, the museum would average 100 the race weekend and several hundred during the festival, Kraft said.
The old museum (which had been damaged by major flooding) was by donation only, but once the new space is open, there will be admission charges — $8 adults; $5 for seniors, students and children 5-17, and free for members, children under 5, veterans, active military and first responders.
A saxophone used by Don Murray, among the Bix Museum pop-up exhibit in its new downtown Davenport space (photo by Jonathan Turner).
In the new pop-up, there are a couple items that haven’t been on display before. One is a small tennis trophy that Bix won at 16 (in 1919) at a tournament he played at the Outing Club, Davenport. That is next to his cornet he played as a teenager.
The other major recent acquisition is a trombone (from the late ‘20s) owned by Bix contemporary Miff Mole (1898-1961), considered one of the great American jazz trombonists. It will be played during the Davenport Bix fest.
“Miff was one of the most impersonated trombonists of the jazz period,” Kraft said. “He was mostly known for playing with Red Nichols…Miff and Red are kind of like Frankie Trumbauer and Bix, in their duo-ship. When this is on display, we’ll have it right next to Red Nichols’s cornet.”
Piano music for Bix’s originals “Davenport Blues” and “In a Mist,” with records Bix played on, at the pop-up exhibit (photo by Jonathan Turner).
The new museum space will more prominently feature Bix’s grandparents’ grand piano, which will be on the right side of the lobby.
A saxophone owned by Don Murray (1904-1929) is in the pop-up exhibit, which was restored in 2021. “We had Josh Duffee bring his Graystone Monarchs for the birthday bash last year, and all the saxophone players in the band got to play it,” Kraft said. “It sounded real good.”
The pop-up also includes Bix’s traveling trunk and tuxedo from the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, and Spiegele Willcox’s trombone, instrument case and megaphone mute, with a signed stool he used at his last Bix fest in 1996 (at age 93).
A trombone and signed stool from Spiegele Willcox, who played at many Bix jazz festivals in Davenport (photo by Jonathan Turner).
The trombone was played at several Bix festivals in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Kraft said.
Another display features piano sheet music for Bix’s compositional classics “Davenport Blues” and “In a Mist,” with recordings of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind” (one of Bix’s last records) and “Davenport Blues.” “Georgia On My Mind” (1930), with Bix on cornet, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.
This is the 100th anniversary of Bix’s original “Davenport Blues” (recorded in January 1925; the sheet music for the piano version was written in 1927.
The Bix Museum is doing special fundraising for every year he recorded ($100 for 100), and donors will receive special recognition. “Every year, we’re gonna highlight a different recording he did each year,” Kraft said. “They’re all turning 100 this decade, which will end with ‘Georgia On My Mind’.”
The museum’s new lease is comparable to the past one with Common Chord, just scaled up to fit the added square footage (2,100 versus the old 1,600) in the new space, Kraft said, noting new operations will overall increase by around $10,000 a year. The new location will feature office space and a lobby/temp exhibit space, and the museum originally planned to be open in the new location by Bix’s birthday on March 10, 2025.
A cornet and tennis trophy owned by a teenage Bix, displayed as part of a pop-up exhibit in the new Bix Museum space (photo by Jonathan Turner).
The displays will be ordered fairly similar to the old space, Kraft said. “It’s mostly going to be exactly how it was,” he said.
The museum is working with Davenport artist Bruce Walters to recreate his painting of the backdrop to a recreation of 1926-era Bix at Hudson Lake, a resort in northern Indiana where he spent that summer with Jean Goldkette and his band. The old museum had the mural on a back wall, which could not be moved, Kraft said.
The museum is building a drop ceiling of about 10 feet high. “It felt better to drop it down, to a little higher, instead of the 9 feet we had before,” he said. “It gives us a good way to light it the way we want it. With a ceiling that high (in the new space), you would have big, wide spotlights.”
The museum has raised over $90,000 of its $120,000 goal, and will get a loan to cover the rest, Kraft said.
“This weekend and next weekend, we’re letting people know. We’re still fundraising; we’re a nonprofit, so we’re always fundraising,” he said. “It’s good to show people all the progress we’re making.”
The hours will be similar to the old museum – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 10 to 2 Saturdays, and by appointment other times.
With the summer Live @ Five concerts every Friday on the Common Chord courtyard, the Bix Museum hopes to stay open later on Fridays.
It was crucial for the museum to stay in downtown Davenport, Kraft said.
Davenport native Bix Beiderbecke was a legendary jazz cornetist and composer who died in 1931 at 28, from pneumonia and alcoholism (photo by Jonathan Turner).
“The board said, we will look outside of downtown if we can’t find something,” he said. “They were very strong about finding a place that fit downtown. We looked at probably a dozen spaces. A lot of the downtown spaces were not first floor; a lot of them didn’t have elevators.”
“We needed something that was a box essentially,” Kraft said. “This place, because it’s right across the street, we looked at it first. This is a good spot; let’s look at it, see how it is. The rent was pretty affordable and we were able to have it in a way where we could section it off to what we needed.
The museum will continue to use Common Chord space for storage on the lower level. They haven’t decided what the old museum space will be used for.
Kyle Carter, executive director of the Downtown Davenport Partnership, supports the move and notes the former bank space and other half of the “Center Building” on the north side of the block are available.
The main Bix Museum space is under construction, with a planned soft opening for mid-August (photo by Jonathan Turner).
“Having the Bix Museum much more visible will be a big benefit to both the organization and vibrancy of this core block of Main and Second Street downtown,” Carter said last November.
“I have no doubt the museum will see a significant boost to attendance and make the entire block more appealing for new businesses,” he said. “Their relocation also helps solve another issue by enabling more flood resiliency options in the Redstone basement; thus, improving the long-term viability of the whole historically important property. A win-win-win.”
After nine years of planning, fundraising, and acquisition, the long dream of opening a Bix Museum was realized in its 2017 opening, and Kraft became its first director in 2020.
The museum collection has grown significantly since then, including the additions of: Bix’s tuxedo and travel trunk; Don Murray’s saxophone; Spiegle Willcox’s trombone and megaphone mute; a half-dozen artworks either of Bix or created by musicians who played with him; a newly discovered letter Bix wrote to his family; Bix’s tennis trophy from a tournament he won as a kid; a collection of Bix 78s; a trombone and several other possessions from local musician and attorney Cy Churchill, who played with Bix in the Quad Cities; and several collections from archives.
A view of the former Bix Museum home at Common Chord, from its new home at 112 W. 2nd St., Davenport (photo by Jonathan Turner).
Tickets are on sale for two upcoming concerts on Sept. 6, 2025, in celebration of 100 years of “Davenport Blues.” Join the Bix Beiderbecke Museum at the Sound Conservatory in Moline for special shows at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. featuring Sweden’s Queen of Swing, Gunhild Carling, for her first ever solo show in the Quad Cities.
Accompanied by Josh Duffee’s Blackhawk Broadcasters, a special arrangement of talented musicians, Gunhild will perform jazz standards in honor of Davenport’s own Bix Beiderbecke. Tickets are $20 each, and the concerts will be at Sound Conservatory, 504 17th St., Moline.
The annual Bix jazz festival is July 30-Aug. 3, primarily based at Davenport’s Rhythm City Casino on Thursday to Saturday, with a Sound Conservatory concert planned Sunday, Aug. 3 at 2 p.m., featuring Josh Duffee, Dave Bennett, Jeff Barnhart and Steve Pikal.
For tickets and more information, visit bixsociety.org.
Part of a pop-up exhibit in the lobby area of the new Bix Museum, open Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (photo by Jonathan Turner).
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