Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lawrence William “Beau” Dixon was born on September 5, 1894 in Chillicothe, Ohio, the second of five children. His father was a farm laborer and part-time musician, from whom he learned to play music from an early age.
From 1923 to 1928 he played in Chicago, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio with Sammy Stewart’s Ten Knights of Syncopation, which recorded for Paramount Records. During the Twenties Beau also worked with Vance Dixon’s Jazz Maniacs, Fess Williams, Dave Peyton, Paul Jordan, Clarence Moore, and Grant Williams.
In 1931 he joined Earl Hines’s band and remained with him until 1937 as rhythm guitarist and arranger. Dixon worked with Franz Jackson’s Original Jass All Stars in the Chicago area in the 1950s and 1960s.
Banjoist and guitarist Beau Dixon, who suffered for years with pulmonary emphysema and tuberculosis, transitioned on January 16, 1970 in Chicago.
