Thursday, August 1, through Saturday, August 3
Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center, 7077 Elmore Avenue, Davenport IA
Held in annual celebration of the legendary cornet player and Davenport native, the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival will, for the second year in a row, find the majority of its concert sets taking place at the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center, with the venue, from August 1 through 3, hosting no less than 25 individual sets by seven assemblages of thrilling jazz artists.
With concerts taking place from 6 to 11 p.m. on August 1 and from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on August 2 and 3, Rhythm City will host a pair of engagements with the nascent jazz talents of the Bix Youth Band, who will perform at 6 p.m. on Thursday and 3:30 p.m. on Friday. (A Bix Youth Band clinic will also be held at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.) The student jazz performers will be joined in the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival lineup by nine gifted ensembles and solo talents scheduled to perform between two and five individual sets apiece: Jeff Barnhart's Hot Jazz Collective headlined by the internationally renowned pianist and bandleader; the Kansas City, Missouri-based artists of the New Red Onion Jazz Babies in their 40th year of performance; local jazz and big-band icon Manny Lopez; the professionally touring tribute musicians of the Benny Goodman Trio; the 10-piece dance band The Graystone Monarchs; the New Orleans-jazz musicians of Hot Jazz Collective; the Des Moines-based talents of the NOLA Jazz Band; Valerie Kirchoff and her nom de jazz Miss Jubilee; and, hailing from Denver, Colorado, the soaring swing-music masters that are Joe Smith & the Spicy Pickles.
Numerous additional concert events and attractions are taking place in conjunction with the 2019 Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival. At 3 p.m. on August 1, the New Red Onion Jazz Babies will play a special set at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center, while Joe Smith & the Spicy Pickles will provide the annual musical accompaniment to Oakdale Memorial Gardens' Bix-graveside memorial event, this year's taking place at 10 a.m. on August 3. The annual Bix Porch Party, with hot dogs and lemonade available for purchase, will be held at the Davenport Public Library's main branch at 11 a.m. on August 1. In addition to her Rhythm City Casino Resort sets, Miss Jubilee will dazzle jazz fans with a 6 p.m. set at the Bass Street Landing Plaza on August 2. And special jazz worship services will be held on August 4, both at Davenport's First Presbyterian Church (at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m.) and, with music provided by the River City 6, at Davenport's St. Mark Lutheran Church (at 9:30 p.m.).
For more information on all of the concerts and events scheduled for the 2018 Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, visit BixSociety.org.
