Davenport Blues is a 1925 song composed and recorded by Bix Beiderbecke

Bix Beiderbecke

Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...

 and released as a Gennett 78. The song has become a jazz and pop standard.

"Davenport Blues" was recorded by Bix Beiderbecke and His Rhythm Jugglers on January 26, 1925, in Richmond, Indiana

Richmond, Indiana

Richmond is a city largely within Wayne Township, Wayne County, in east central Indiana, United States, which borders Ohio. The city also includes the Richmond Municipal Airport, which is in Boston Township and separated from the rest of the city...

, and released as Gennett 5654 backed with "Toddlin' Blues" as the A side. The band included Tommy Dorsey

Tommy Dorsey

Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...

 on trombone, Paul Madeira Mertz on piano, Don Murray on clarinet, Howdy Quicksell on banjo, Tom Gargano on drums, and Bix Beiderbecke on cornet. The title derives from the name of Bix Beiderbecke's hometown of Davenport, Iowa.

Cover Versions of "Davenport Blues"

• Miff Mole and His Molers, 1927, Okeh 40848
• Charleston Chasers under the direction of Red Nichols, 1927, Columbia 909D
• Adrian Rollini and His Orchestra, 1934, Decca 359
• Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra, 1938, Victor 26121B
• Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, 1938, Victor 26135
• Gil Evans, 1959, from the album Great Jazz Standards with Johnny Coles on trumpet
• Jack Teagarden
• Bobby Hackett
• Eddie Condon
• Yank Lawson and the V-Disc All Stars on V-Disc
  V-Disc
  V-Disc was a morale-boosting initiative involving the production of several series of recordings during the World War II era by special arrangement between the United States government and various private U.S. record companies. The records were produced for the use of United States military...
  
  No. 404B.
• Scott Robinson
• Peter O'Brien
• Russ Freeman
• Barbara Sutton Curtis
• Dill Jones, 1972, from the album Davenport Blues
• Kenny Werner, 1977
• Ry Cooder, 1978, from the album Jazz
• Dutch Swing College Band
• Randy Sandke
• Lawson-Haggart Jazz Band
• Dice of Dixie Crew
• Dick Hyman
• Geoff Muldaur
• Patrick Artero, 2006
• Scandinavian Rhythm Boys, 2007

External links

• dpl Quad City Memory
• Bix Beiderbecke Resources: A Bixography
• Bix Beiderbecke Resources: A Creative Aural History Thesis - A series of nineteen one-half-hour radio programs from 1971. Includes interviews with Frank Trumbauer, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa, Eddie Condon, Bing Crosby and Bix' brother Charles "Burnie" Beiderbecke
• The Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society, Davenport, Iowa
• "Davenport Blues" - An mp3 of Beiderbecke's first recording under his own name.
• Celebrating Bix - A tribute album created to commemorate the centenary of Bix's birth by some of the world's finest traditional jazz musicians.
• "Bixology" (an excerpt) by Brendan Wolfe, Jazz.com.
• Twelve Essential Bix Beiderbecke Performances by Brendan Wolfe, Jazz.com.
• Quad City Times Bix 7, Davenport, IA