The Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival opens today, running through Sunday at the Rhythm City Casino in Davenport, and, let’s be honest, it’s got an air of stodgy nostalgia to it. The Bix Fest was once a much bigger deal, an outdoor and indoor festival at a number of different venues, featuring bands from all over the world. Now it’s confined to a smaller space, in a smaller venue, one which has a built-in audience of people coming there for gambling and other attractions. If ’80s and ’90s Bix Fest was when it was celebrating its heyday, this is, well, it’s not quite... Read More

After getting canceled last summer due to Covid, the popular Bix 7 weekend festivities and Alternating Currents festival are returning to downtown Davenport this summer. Bix 7 race related activities draw some of the largest crowds to the Quad-Cities annually, and now the Downtown Davenport Partnership (DDP) is introducing a new event model to capture its thousands of attendees to immerse them in the downtown experience July 23-24, the Quad Cities Chamber announced Thursday. The traditional Street Fest model — featuring traveling vendors — is being replaced with a local focus. New... Read More

DAVENPORT — Local musician Josh Duffee has long been a scholar of area legends like Louie Bellson and Bix Beiderbecke, and now he’s sharing his encyclopedic knowledge with a new online show, Bix Beiderbecke: A Driving Tour Around Davenport, taking place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday on Josh’s Facebook Live. “When I have the opportunity to travel the country and the world performing the music I love, I am proud to say that my family and I live in Davenport, Iowa, the hometown of Bix Beiderbecke!” Josh said. “The one thing I’ve heard the most from the... Read More