First Presbyterian remembers past

By Mary Louise Speer | Monday, July 31, 2006

If the jazz musician himself had attended Sunday’s Bix Beiderbecke Festival Jazz Liturgy at First Presbyterian Church, he might have sailed on the wings of music performed by the Side Street Strutters.

People lined up outside the door before the start of the eighth annual service hoping to find a seat in the Davenport church. Leon Bix Beiderbecke and his family worshiped at First Presbyterian, and he was baptized there.

“We gather here in all our diverse moods and backgrounds around the spirit of a musical giant who helped create the classic American jazz genre, even though he didn’t realize what he was doing,” the Rev. Richard Wereley said.

Wereley shared the pulpit with Josh Duffee, director of Josh Duffee’s Orchestra. The young man’s fine-boned face and brown hair resemble Bix. During the shared sermon, Duffee focused on Bix’s music rather than the many bleak days where the young musician struggled against the lure of the flask.

“I’m sorry. He was a musician. Bix was a kind and gentle human being, and his life was music. His inspiration was music,” he said.

Wereley reflected on the low hours all people face at some point in their lives. “The question is, do we have to be at their mercy? Can we not rise above them, catch the great hours and sail with them? In the face of any threat, of any crushing moment, like Bix, we can let the spirit of creative energy come through?” he said.

The Side Street Strutters, and church’s Sanctuary Choir and Youth Jazz Ensemble shared their creative energies in instrumentals, voice and dance.

Saxophone player Robert Verdi leads the seven-piece Disneyland band that includes trombonist Roger Bissell. Bissel learned the trombone while growing up in Iowa, and he studied at the University of Iowa.

The original members discovered their shared love of jazz at Arizona State University, Verdi said. The group appeared in gigs around Phoenix and won a national collegiate award that led to a guest appearance at California’s Disneyland. The young musicians were hired as full-time performers.

“Davenport is one of those spots where jazz continued its development. You get caught up in that whole vibe. You just sense the historical significance of Bix,” Verdi said.

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