Bix’s Melodies (December 28)

“Our tradition was to stargaze from the veranda. Grandpa would pull out his Bix Beiderbecke 78s and wind up the gramophone. It was their favourite music. The fantastical rhythms transported them to St. Louis, Chicago, or New York City. Granny without fail lost track of the time, allowing Grandpa to regale her with the likes of Jazz Me Blues and No Reason At All until long past when I fell asleep. Finally, one or the other tucked me into bed. The next morning, I would awaken in a bedroom flooded by sunlight reflected in from the underside of the Persian blue shutters. And Bix’s syncopated melodies unfailingly continued ringing in my ears. I catch myself humming them to this day.” (p. 28)

Bob Dylan was entirely correct: a song really is “a moment in time.” And with luck such ‘moments’ may be captured forever. The Bix Beiderbecke tunes Rob enjoyed when he was a child stuck with him on account of the circumstances that made them memorable. Possibly you, too, benefited from that type of connection between a musical tune and the context in which you first heard it.

If you did, please let others know in a Comment, and be sure to identify not only the piece of music itself, but also the time and place when that memory was born.

(Illustration generated by AI)