The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

There is a torn snapshot of Bix, Eddie Condon, Pee Wee Russell and Mezz Mezzrow that has been published in books many times. The picture is always cropped-the top and bottom of the picture cut off. Here is a better look at the picture and not cropped:

jazzgirl1920s,

Thanks for sharing this! I don’t think it really improves on the copy that you uploaded, but here is an edit of that image, after applying Auto Tone/Auto Contrast in Photoshop (although I cropped it slightly, but not to remove the ripped parts):

It’s a pity that this is damaged—it looks to me like there was someone ripped out of the top right corner...but I could be wrong.

— MordEth

I have seen plenty of pictures of these people, but I had never seen this one and I confess that I fail to recognize them.

Bix is in the middle with Mezz Mezzrow to the left of him and Eddie Condon (with parts of his hair torn off) to the right. The fellow to the extreme left looks as if it could be Pee Wee Russell.

Fredrik

And isn't that "Der Bingle" (Bing Crosby) to the right of Bix, with his arm draped over Bix's shoulder?

I thought that myself at first Henry, but I'm not so sure. His face looks a little too fat or something??

Yes, he does look a tad bloated there, no doubt about it. We tend to remember him as a lanky sort, but maybe in his youth he was more hefty and later slimmed down? (The opposite of most of us!) OTOH, who else could it be? Any ideas? We know that Crosby and Bix recorded together in the '20s, acc. to Leonard Feather's New Encyclopedia of Jazz.

Doesn't look like Bing to me. Also: I think this photo was taken in Bix's pre-Whiteman days (note that he has no moustache yet, which he got one soon after joining Whiteman).

I looked up the picture in Keepnews & Grauer's A Pictoral History Of Jazz, and it confirms Pee Wee, Mezz, Bix and Condon in the front row but has nothing to say about the men behind.

Fredrik

Thanks a lot MordEth for editing the picture. You made it look a lot better to me with the photoshop techniques. Also thanks to the other members for your opinions. I believe this picture was taken in Bix's pre-Whiteman days too. May have been taken in the mid 1920's in Chicago.

The man standing in the back looks a bit like Harry Reser, but why would both he and Eddie Condon be there together?