“A Tribute to Bix Fest” is a weekend-long swing jazz fest in Mt. Pleasant celebrating Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke. Bix was a musical prodigy that lived hard, died young, and made an unforgettable impact on trad and early swing jazz. Learn more about Bix here. This yearly fest started in 1989 as a ‘birthday party to Bix’ by the early jazz enthusiast Phil Pospychala. It grew over the next 31 years to be a destination for some of the best known hot jazz bands, rare 78 disc collectors, and the dancers and jazz aficionados that filled the crowd.

The last fest occurred a month before the COVID shutdown. For some, this was the last music/dance event for several years. But like the legend of Bix himself, the fest lives on and has been resurrected by the efforts of Jack Garrison, Allissa Norland, and others. With new Grand Masters also comes a few new events. Shag and Balboa lessons and vintage clothing vendors that will be joining the usual band concerts, record vendors, late night jam sessions, movies, and such. The content/level of the Shag and Balboa lessons will modulate based on the attendees.

The band list is impressive with both local talent from Milwaukee and Chicago and bands from around the US. The music is true to Bix’s time of being 1920 and earlier 1930s-inspired. For newer Milwaukee dancers who are wondering exactly what that sounds like, think The Sweet Sheiks and The Westerlees (which are both playing Friday night!).

You can see the schedule and buy day passes or a whole weekend pass by clicking here. The organizers are offering a $25 off of Full Weekend Passes discount for dancers at https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/544LERR2QUBXS. They are also offering $10 off the a-la-carte passes at the door for dancers.

If you go for just a day – try to do the whole day. If you can stretch that weekend a bit earlier, then join the Thursday “Bus Tour to Hell” – a 9:00 to 5:00 bus tour of Chicago’s early jazz history. Jack will be leading this guided tour. He says, “We sniff the molecules, as Phil would say, and take in the spots where jazz history was made”. Jack is currently working to include entering a space where recordings were made and speakeasy bar at the end of the tour.

After the bus tour, we go back to the hotel for the round-robin record spinning by the vendors. Jack says that “You will hear music that – in some cases – only exists on the one copy of the 78 RPM disc in that room.”

Events like this are rare. To have it just a 40 minute drive from Milwaukee is a treat indeed.