Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was a notable jazz cornet player, as well as a very talented classical and jazz pianist. Early life Beiderbecke was born in Davenport, Iowa to a middle-class family of German origins. As a teenager he would sneak off to the banks of the Mississippi to listen to bands play on the riverboats coming from the south. Illness often kept Beiderbecke out of school, and his grades suffered. He attended Davenport High School briefly, but his parents felt that sending him to the exclusive Lake Forest Academy just north of Chicago in Lake Forest, Illinois, as a boarding student would provide him with both the necessary faculty attention and discipline to improve his academic schooling. The change of scenery did not improve Beiderbecke's academic record, as the only subjects in which he showed avid interest were music and sports.

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