Letter to University of Illinois President James Stukel from Chris Beiderbecke (great nephew of Jazz great Bix Beiderbecke)


Sent to Mr. Stukel (July 18, 1999)

Dear Sir:

I recently sent you an email message about saving Maxwell Street and would like to offer this in addition.

I have learned that you regard yourself to be a jazz fan and that your School of Music in Urbana has a significant jazz program and jazz band. So you are certainly aware of the role Maxwell street has played in the history of blues and jazz. I am a jazz fan too, as well as a blues fan and blues musician. My great uncle was one of the giants of jazz, Bix Beiderbecke.

As you may know, he was a coronet player from Davenport, IA, who went on to play Chicago, Hollywood, Harlem, and many other places across the nation. In his short but brilliant career, he helped create and influenced modern improvisational music.

As you are aware, blues are at the root of jazz, with jazz and blues being two purely America's art forms. To disrespect this landmark area so important in both the cultural history of Chicago as well as the music world by sending it into oblivion, only to be replaced by parking lots, is a violation of a sacred trust to preserve our American musical and cultural heritage. The many jazz and blues greats that have passed through Maxwell Street on their way to national and international fame would doubtless shake their heads in disgust at what you have allowed to happen to Maxwell Street.

Here in the Quad Cities, we celebrate our musical heritage with both the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Fest, as well as the Mississippi Valley Blues Fest, both of them 3 day events that draw enormous appreciative crowds. Each educate our young people, brings us civic pride, and helps the area's economic base. Blues and jazz are now part of world culture, and as such, blues and jazz fans the world over would no doubt be sickened and hold you and your university accountable for the destruction of the remainder of old Maxwell Street. I trust you will do the right thing in your capacity as someone charged with weighing the perceived needs of your great institution against the destruction and obliteration of a important landmark with a long and significant history, and ensure that Maxwell street will survive and prosper along with the University into the next millennium.

Most sincerely,

Chris Beiderbecke <waygone1@aol.com>

Moline, IL

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EARLIER EMAIL MESSAGE (July 13, 1999)

Dear sir:

This is a note to urge you to seriously consider the value of preserving the historic Maxwell street area. I am from the Quad Cities in Illinois and recall visiting the market there on Sunday several years ago. The area is unique in the country and the world. One can not walk through the area without a palpable sense of the history of the place, from Jewish enclave to landing spot for so many people arriving from the south. Maxwell street is steeped in the aura of the seminal musicians that lived in the area and the way the poverty and the general energy of the area created a place where landmark music was first evolved and created. It's historical and cultural significance is enormous.

But even beyond that, it has enormous potential for a revival that would once again restore it to it's former vitality. The potential is there, and anything that could be done to ensure that Maxwell street does not die an ignoble death is to be desired.

Please weight this area's significance in your future decisions regarding it's future. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Chris Beiderbecke <waygone1@aol.com>

Moline, IL


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