"Jazz Talking" is a collection of interviews/memoirs with jazz musicians by the late Max Jones of Melody Maker, the British music magazine. Just republished, it has extraordinary sessions with Billie Holliday, Bud Freeman, Stan Getz, and many others. The most interesting one probably is with Jimmy McPartland, a legendary cornet player from Chicago, who regales the listener with tales from Chicago in the 20's, and how he and his pals (including the 13 year old Benny Goodman in short pants) learned the repertoire off of old 78's, etc. The story that struck me, however, was about his encounter with Bix Beiderbecke (an idol of mine, I confess). When you read the books, novels, or see the documentaries about Bix, you come away vaguely thinking that he was certainly complex, but also some kind of drunken mess. Jimmy tells how he was brought as a kid to New York to replace Bix in a band when Bix moved to Goldkette's. Jimmy was dirt poor, and had been given the $32.50 to get himself to New York, he had a battered cornet, and that was about it. Bix befriended him, and one day, took the kid to the music store, and bought him the best cornet in the place. When he was down on his luck, Bix gave him money -- that Jimmy repayed in the last days of Bix's life, when Bix needed it bad. In the midst of the mess of Bix's life, it is nice to have a story like that -- a musician buying another musician, a kid just starting out, an instrument. I am sure there are lots of other generous musician stories like that -- it is sure nice to have one that illuminates something about Bix.