Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (feat. the Rhythm Boys and Bix Beiderbecke) - Changes

This post shows two more highlights of 1927: Bix and Bing. Bix Beiderbecke was at his peak and Bing Crosby was introduced to a national audience for the first time.

First, Bing. In 1926, when Paul Whiteman was in Los Angeles he discovered a singing duo, one of whom was Bing Crosby. He offered the duo a job with his band (the most popular band of the era), added a third member and called the resulting trio the Rhythm Boys. Bing Crosby of course went on to become the most popular singer of the 20th century.

Now, Bix. In mid 1927, after his previous work with the Frankie Trumbauer and the Jean Goldkette Orchestras ended, Bix Beiderbecke joined the Whiteman Orchestra. Bix was the first white musician to master jazz performance and he was arguably the only trumpet player who could have gone toe-to-toe with Louis Armstrong at the time. Bix recorded most of his best work in 1927 (see his harmonically-advanced solo piano piece “In a Mist” and both “Singin’ the Blues” and “I’m Comin’ Virginia” with Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra). After that year his alcoholism began to affect his playing, eventually killing him in 1931.

To the song, then. “Changes” is one of the earliest Whiteman releases to feature the Rhythm Boys and (as far as I can tell) was the first to feature both Bix and Bing within the same 3-minute burst. The song seems a bit under-developed in form and neither the Rhythm Boys nor Bix turn in exceptional performances, but it’s still worth a few listens. Bing was only a few months from his breakthrough hit (still with Whiteman) and Bix’s solo, although not his best, was still better than almost any other cornetist could hope to play in 1927.