"Candlelights" is a 1930 jazz composition for solo piano by cornetist

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...

. It was the second in the series of four piano works which Bix Beiderbecke composed during his career.

Background

Bix Beiderbecke never recorded "Candlelights" but did copyright the piano score on August 29, 1930 as "A Modern Composition for the Piano". Bill Challis assisted with the transcription for piano. The score and the sheet music were published by Robbins Music in New York. "Candlelights" was recorded by jazz pianist

Jess Stacy Jesse Alexandria Stacy (August 11, 1904 – January 1, 1995) was an American jazz pianist who gained prominence during the swing era. He is perhaps best known for his years with the Benny Goodman band during the late 1930s, particularly his ...

and was released as a 78 single in 1939 on

Commodore Records Commodore Records was an American independent record label known for producing Dixieland jazz and swing. It is also remembered for releasing Billie Holiday's hit " Strange Fruit". History Commodore Records was founded in the spring of 1938 by Mi ...

as part of the Classics in Swing series, 517A. Jazz trumpeter

Bunny Berigan Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan (November 2, 1908 – June 2, 1942) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era. His career and influence were shortened by alcoholism, and ended with his early demise at the ...

subsequently recorded it in 1939 in an orchestral arrangement featuring trumpet. More recently, it was recorded by two other jazz pianists:

Kenny Werner Kenny Werner (born November 19, 1951) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author. Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 19, 1951 and then growing up in Oceanside, Long Island, Werner began playing and performing at a young a ...

recorded it in 1977 on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

and pianist Bryan Wright recorded it in 2010. Jazz guitarist

Bucky Pizzarelli John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020) was an American jazz guitarist. He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) ...

also recorded a guitar transcription of it in 1986 on his album ''Solo Flight''. In 2020, Juliet Kurtzman and Pete Malinverni recorded it as a duo for violin and piano on the album ''Candlelight: Love in the Time of Cholera''.

Notable recordings

"Candlelights" has been recorded by

,Candlelights by Jess Stacy. Discogs.
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, Bryan Wright, Geoff Muldaur's Futuristic Ensemble, Paul Mertz,

Ralph Sutton Ralph Earl Sutton (November 4, 1922 – December 30, 2001) was an American jazz pianist born in Hamburg, Missouri. He was a stride pianist in the tradition of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. Biography Sutton was born in Hamburg, Missouri, ...

, Oscar Pettiford with Tom Talbert, Tiger Dixie Band,

Dick Hyman Richard Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Art ...

, Mike Polad, Joseph Smith,

, Patrick Artero, and Kenny Werner.

Album appearances

The composition appears on the following albums: *Bix Beiderbecke: ''Bix Restored, Vol. 1'', Origin Records, 1995 *Bix Beiderbecke: ''1929-1930, Vol. 8'', Masters of Jazz, 1996 *Bix Beiderbecke: ''In a Mist: His Best Works'', Definitive Classics, 2007 *Kenny Werner, ''The Piano Music of Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, James P. Johnson'', Atlantic, 1977 *Bucky Pizzarelli: ''Solo Flight'', Stash, 1986 *Juliet Kurtzman and Pete Malinverni: ''Candlelight: Love in the Time of Cholera'', 2020

References

Sources

*Berton, Ralph. ''Remembering Bix''. Harper & Row, 1974. *Castelli, Vittorio, Evert (Ted) Kaleveld, and Liborio Pusateri. ''The Bix Bands: A Bix Beiderbecke Disco-biography''. Raretone, Milan, 1972. *Collins, David R. ''Bix Beiderbecke: Jazz Age Genius''. Morgan Reynolds, Inc., Greensboro, North Carolina, 1998. *Evans, Philip R. and Linda K. Evans. ''Bix: The Leon Bix Beiderbecke Story''. Bakersfield, Calif.: Prelike Press, 1998. . *Lastella, Aldo. "La vita e la leggenda di Bix Beiderbecke". Nuovi Equilibri S.R.L., Roma, 1991. *Lion, Jean Pierre. ''Bix: The Definitive Biography of a Jazz Legend: Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke''. New York: Continuum, 2005. *Sudhalter, Richard M. and Philip R. Evans with William Dean-Myatt. ''Bix: Man and Legend.'' New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1974. . *Teachout, Terry. "Homage to Bix", ''Commentary'', September 2005, pp. 65–68. {{authority control Instrumentals Compositions for solo piano