[Dixielandjazz] La Crosse Tribune story on Jim Beebe - March 2004

[Nancy Giffin]

Some of you already received this from Jim last spring,
but here it is for the rest of you. Jim was pleased with it.

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From: "Jim Beebe" <jbeebe at centurytel.net>
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 23:46:18 -0600
Subject: Fw: La Crosse Tribune story

Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at
http://www.lacrossetribune.com

March 7, 2004 

Jazz man Jim Beebe recalls great career in music
By GERI PARLIN / La Crosse Tribune

SPARTA, Wis. — Jim Beebe doesn't blow the trombone anymore. Emphysema has
taken that from him.

But jazz is still very much alive for Beebe, who made a name for himself as
the frontman in Jim Beebe's Chicago Jazz. Now he spends his time remembering
and writing anecdotes of the jazz musicians whose paths crossed his.

Beebe was born in Sparta, just four blocks away on Spring Street from where
he lives now in the Parkview Apartments. Though his father and grandfather
were doctors, there always was music at home, Beebe said, and he can
remember stealing away to his Grandpa's basement to play an old trombone.

But drums came first. Beebe remembers competing in high school band
competitions when he was in junior high. He was that good on drums. But when
he finally did get to high school, it was the trombone he wanted to play, so
his band teacher let him switch, and that sealed Beebe's fate.

Though he did go to Beloit College in 1949 with pre-med in mind, it didn't
stay in his mind very long. He was more interested in booking gigs, and his
grades suffered because of it. Seeing little future in academia, Beebe
signed on with the Marines in 1952, thinking he would join the Medical
Corps. When he learned that wasn't possible, his mind turned once again to
music. 

"This big beautiful band came by during boot camp," he said, "and they were
playing John Philip Sousa like it ought to be played.

"The drill instructors hated the band," he said with a grin, but that didn't
stop Beebe from auditioning and winning a spot in the band.

"I got a lot of playing in." And because he was stationed in San Francisco,
he was out in the jazz clubs every night, sitting in with Bob Scobey and
meeting the jazz greats of the day.

"We'd wear our uniforms and people would buy us drinks," he said.

Beebe did end up in Japan from 1953-54. Along with his trombone, he took a
machine gun because "it was also a machine gun company."

When he got out of the Marines, Beebe went to the University of Wisconsin
and he started studying music education. He can't say when he made a firm
decision to play music instead of teach it. "I don't know that I ever really
realized that," he said. But when Scobey came along and offered him a spot
in his band, Beebe accepted, and there was no turning back.

Beebe finally settled in Chicago, where he and his band made their living
from regular club gigs at night and lots of corporate work during the day.

And throughout that time, he kept coming back to the La Crosse area to play.
Local folks like Wayne Arihood remembered Beebe and wanted to hear him play
in La Crosse. 

It was while in Madison in the 1950s that Arihood first heard Beebe perform
when they were both students there. "That was the heyday in Madison for
jazz," Arihood said. "There was Dixieland every night."

Decades later, when Arihood was founding a jazz festival in La Crosse, Beebe
was one of the musicians Arihood booked for that first festival in 1986.
Beebe came back to La Crosse many times, playing at the festival for the
last time a few years ago.

Judi Erickson, who sings professionally as Judi K., sang with Beebe's band
for 16 years. 

"I was just lucky enough to walk in at a time they were looking for a
vocalist," she said. "Jim had the kind of band that people would line up to
play with us. He had a dynamic band."

A few years back, when college kids got interested in swing dancing, they
started showing up at the band's gigs, she said. "They would swing dance to
our music. It was a lot of fun for us."

As for Beebe, he was definitely the front man, Erickson said. "When he came
out on stage, he was like a rock star. Everybody clapped."

He leads a quieter life now, forced by emphysema to give up the trombone and
the old life in the clubs.

"I probably kept going longer than I should have," he said, because the pull
of jazz was strong.

When he moved back to the La Crosse area last year, he figured he didn't
have long to live. He gave his trombone to a friend and prepared for a
quieter life. "I figured I was on the way out."

But the clean air and a better diet have made a big difference. "My health
improved," he said, though he has to be on oxygen all the time because of
reduced lung capacity.

Now Beebe has taken up a new pastime. He spends much of his time writing and
posting opinions and anecdotes on Web pages that are mostly related to jazz.
He says he learned to be a better writer through the Internet, learning to
edit his own pieces.

"A lot of people are encouraging me to write more," he said. He writes when
the spirit moves him.

When it does, he likely will write of Bob Scobey, Miles Davis, Art Hodes,
Jack Teagarden and Wild Bill Davison. He has met them all and sat in with
most of them. 

In his own way, Beebe is still a jazz man, but now his instrument of choice
is a computer keyboard.

You can reach Geri Parlin at gparlin at lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8225.

 

All stories copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 La Crosse Tribune and other
attributed sources.