Albert Lewis Petersen
Born September 4, 1865 – Died February 25, 1951
Guest Column by James Victor "Jim" Petersen
Vice President of the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society
Introduction. By
Albert Haim.
Albert Petersen, known in the
Beiderbecke family as "Uncle Al," "Uncle Albert" or "Uncle Olie," was
related to Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke, the legendary
cornetist/pianist/composer from Davenport, Iowa. Albert Petersen was
married to Caroline "Carrie" May Kennedy, a cousin of Bix's mother,
Agatha. The Petersen and Beiderbecke families were not only relatives,
but close friends.
Albert Petersen was a distinguished musician. He founded the "Tri-City
Symphony," led the St. Ambrose University Band, and had his own
"Petersen" band that played at many functions in Davenport, and also
taught several instruments. His four sons all played
professionally at one time or another and his daughter played the
piano. Therefore, when Bix Beiderbecke, as a child, displayed an
unusual musical talent, Albert Petersen was consulted by Agatha.
Charles Burnett Beiderbecke, Bix's brother, wrote to Bix biographer
Philip R. Evans on June 1, 1960, "Uncle
Olie was the conductor of a brass band here in Davenport. He had three
sons [Note 1] who became better than average musicians. The oldest son,
piano; the middle one, cello, is still teaching and playing in our
Tri-City Symphony Orchestra; the youngest boy played the violin. Uncle
Olie readily saw Bix was full of music and gave him many valuable
tips. When he first took an interest in the Bix he tried him to get to
play violin. Bix rebelled, the cornet was his choice and there was no
changing his mind."
The interaction of Bix with
Albert Petersen is elaborated in the biography "Bix, Man and Legend" by
Richard M. Sudhalter and Philip R. Evans. Here are the sections of
Bix's biography that refer to Albert Petersen. [Note 2]
Agatha (Bix’s mother) soon sought expert
guidance in harnessing her son’s obvious talents. One of her
cousins was married to Albert Petersen, a competent cornetist and brass
band conductor known to the Beiderbecke children as “Uncle Olie”. (sic)
Three of his sons (actually four sons
and a daughter who all played at least one or more instruments and also
sang) had shown early promise, imparting to him the status of family
talent scout and arbiter of musical precocity. He dropped over
one day to hear Agatha’s seven-year-old-boy wonder go through his paces
(on the piano).
Uncle Olie could hardly contain his
enthusiasm. “Agatha, this boy has something.” He said.
“Keep me informed about his progress – and whatever you do, get him
some piano lessons.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Aggie, anxious to keep her son’s mind
occupied as he recovered (from scarlet fever), took Al Petersen’s
advice at last and engaged as piano teacher, Prof. Charles Grade
(Graw-deh) from Muscatine, 40 miles west of Davenport.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bix kept plugging away on the cornet,
and by late spring had worked up enough confidence to approach Al
Petersen for advice. Uncle Olie, whatever his reasons, was less
than encouraging. “Why don’t you try the violin first, and get
yourself a good, solid musical foundation?” was the substance of his
reply. Bix went home and practiced some more, dodging his
mother’s questions about the session with Uncle Olie. He never
mentioned it again.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Aggie Beiderbecke, pondering her
son’s future, had begun to come to terms with a number of
all-too-apparent realities. Not only was it clear that he was
hell-bent on becoming a professional musician despite any opposition
she or Bismark (Bix’s Father) might mount, but, even more important, he
was clearly very good at what he did and in growing demand among
orchestras specializing in his music. It was not her or
Bismark’s, nor that of Ernest Otto, or Prof. Koepke or Uncle Olie
Petersen. But music it was, and Bix’s failure to win a union card
– and the musical respect that went with it – in his own home
town was hurting him. It was, she reflected, keeping him away
from home when he could be playing around the tri-cities area, and it
already cost him a number of good opportunities . He had lost the
Terrace Gardens job, the Majestic, the Capitol and heaven knew how many
others, simply because the grayer heads of Local 67 would not accept
the possibility that a “jazzer” could be a musician too.
Aggie telephoned Al Petersen and
asked her cousin to have a chat with the gentleman of the examining
board, Roy Kautz included. “I thought it might be easier for Bix here
than in Chicago,” was her explanation in later years. Uncle Olie,
far from entirely convinced but in this case allowing family loyalty to
dominate, made a point of talking to board members Ben Ebeling, Ernest
Otto and Frank Fich immediately about young Beiderbecke.
“The kid may be light on reading
music,” he said, “but he does have some talent as a jazzer. Be
too bad to turn him down again.” After lengthy and heated discussions,
and not a little grumbling, he won their assent to examine the “jazzer”
again. Come Monday, the first of October, Bix Beiderbecke turned up,
neat and smiling – and hornless – at the union audition hall.
“Where’s the cornet, Bix?” Ebeling
asked, perplexed. Bix grinned.
“Oh, that. Hope you don’t mind, but I
thought I’d take the exam on the piano”. Whereupon he seated
himself at the keyboard, playing through two “light” classical
selections, and passed without so much as a question from the
thunderstruck examiners.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
(About Bix’s playing on “Singing the
Blues”)
The tone was that of the brass band
cornetist, of Uncle Olie Petersen and all he valued – clean, ringing,
every note struck head-on, with none of the half valved effects,
growls, buzzes or other “dirty” tricks common to black brass
soloists. It functioned best not in the blues idiom, but on songs
with appealing melodies and interesting chord structures, paraphrasing
a given melodic line into new, usually superior one bearing the natural
structure of “correlated” phrasing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Note 1. Albert Petersen had
four sons and a daughter: Vinceno Albert, Arthur Alexander, Harry
Alonzo, Victor Herbert and Helen Margaret.
Note 2. The relevant excerpts from Sudhalter and Evans were prepared by
Jim Petersen.
A Brief Biography of Albert Petersen. By Jim Petersen,
Albert's Grandson.
Albert Petersen was born
in Struxdorf, Schleswig-Holstein Germany on September 4th
1865. While he always considered himself to be of German
heritage, his grandson traced back the family lineage to be that of
Danish origins. He and his parents moved to America when Albert
was only two years old. He was married to Carrie Kennedy, Agatha
Beiderbecke’s first cousin and friend. The Petersen and
Beiderbecke families were friends. The Beiderbecke children knew
Albert Petersen as “Uncle Albert”, the source for the belief that he
was known as “Uncle Olie” cannot be substantiated at this time.
At the age of 16 Albert joined the Strasser Orchestra as a horn player
and by age 17 was assistant concert master. At the age of 18 he
directed the orchestra in the former Burtis Opera House, playing for
the most notable actresses and actors in show business. He also
directed orchestras at other performance venues in the Quad City area.
He provided an orchestra to play background music for silent films at
the old Grand theater, and his own “Har-Cen-Art” theater as well.
In 1891 at the age of 26 he started his own band and orchestra that
numbered as many as 40 members. The “Petersen Band” stayed together and
played for over 50 years. He also married Carolyn (Carrie)
Kennedy that year, who was a first cousin to Bix Beiderbecke’s mother
Agatha.
In 1895 after helping to lay the cornerstone for the first building of
St. Ambrose College (today’s St. Ambrose University), Albert formed
that institutions first band from scratch! After determining the
need for a band, the college ordered sixteen instruments, but when they
arrived in the fall of that year they found that there were no
musicians on campus to play them. So, “all likely candidates were
called in” and the instruments were divided up amongst them according
to fine musical details like who had big or small lips, who had strong
front teeth, or who liked big shiny new brass instruments.
Reports have it that the first sounds of the new band were rather
“unique”, and that the new band students were ordered to practice out
in the back pasture so as not to disturb scholarly endeavors on
campus. But by the following May, Albert Petersen had them
playing well enough to perform at Commencement and other concerts as
well. Albert directed the band from 1895 to 1898 and was pressed
into service again from 1901 to 1906.
He also taught and formed the bands at the St. Vincent and Annie
Wettenmyer Orphanages and gave private lessons to many successful
musicians over the years including his four sons and one
daughter. Albert himself played trumpet, violin and viola; his
son Ceno played piano (and made a living as a piano tuner and
performer), Art played the cello and was active in the Musicians Union
as an officer most of this life, Helen played the piano and sang,
Harry played violin and played with the Lawrence Welk orchestra, and
his youngest son Victor who sang, played cornet in his Dad’s
“Petersen Band” and violin in the Tri-City Symphony and who went on to
be a talented violin maker and stringed instrument repairmen for many
years. Albert’s sons all went on to play professionally at one time or
another.
The Tri-City Symphony (today’s Quad City Symphony) was organized and
founded by Albert Petersen and others in 1915. At the time the Quad
City area was the smallest area to have a full Symphony Orchestra in
the U. S.. It now holds the distinction of being one of the
oldest continuous Symphony Orchestra’s in the country.
1915 was a busy year, as Albert and his son Art performed in the
“Blackhawk Hotel Ensemble” for their Grand opening in the Gold Room
(home venue for the 40th Bix Festival in 2011). His son’s Art and
Ceno played on the radio with the Giezzela Weber trio, Albert’s Hawkeye
Ensemble did likewise. Albert and his son Ceno wrote music for various
businesses in the area, including the Mississippi Valley Fair.
The Davenport German community had a very nice park at the edge of town
called Schuetzen Park. The area was predominantly German and
there were also several “Turner” halls for socializing and exercising
in the area. Albert and his family members were actively involved
with these groups. At the time of the first World War, when Bix
Beiderbecke insisted that he not be called Leon “Bismark”, anti German
sentiment naturally arose.
One night in 1917, two fellows, one of which Albert knew, stopped by
his home at 704 West Locust and started to accuse him of being helpful
somehow or sympathetic to the German’s in the war. Albert, a
kindly, gentle and patient person, didn’t take the accusation
well. He said, “I’m an American!” “You know me as well as
you do and you ask this?” “I’m insulted and I ask you to leave or
me and my sons will throw you off this porch!” They quickly
apologized and all was forgiven a short while later. Soon after,
the Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa ended most
performances.
As mentioned in Richard Sudhalter's and Philip Evans' “Bix, Man and
Legend,” Albert advised Bix Beiderbecke that the $35 price was fair for
his first “good” cornet from Fritz Putzier. At some point, Albert
asked Bix to play for him. Albert said, “You play very well, but
I guess I don’t understand your music”. Uncle Albert (as he was
known to the Beiderbecke’s) was the one who suggested Bix get some
formal training when he heard him play the piano at the age of 7.
When Max D. Petersen (no relation) decided to sponsor the
building of a European style band shell on the Mississippi River in
LeClaire Park in 1925, his friend Albert Petersen was consulted.
Albert directed the orchestra’s that played the outdoor concert series
in that park and other pavilions around the area for 39 continuous
years right up to six months before his death at the age of 85 in
1951. His son Art, who had been the announcer for the orchestra
took over as conductor and his youngest son Victor took over the
announcing chores.
Having just improved (converted an outdoor theater to an indoor one)
the Har-Cen-Art theater he owned, he also purchased the “Victor”
theater. The Har-Cen-Art was on Harrison Street, and the parts of
the theater’s name represented the names of his three sons, Harry, Ceno
and Art. When he purchased the “Victor” he named it after his
youngest son. As fate would have it, the Great Depression came
along and business took a nose dive. Albert choose to give up his
theaters in favor of keeping his band going as he said, “The band
members need the work and the community needs the music more now than
ever.”
Albert and his family attended Bix’s funeral in 1931. While he
and others in the Petersen family didn’t always understand Bix’s music
or why he’d want to travel, play in speakeasys, and be involved with
illegal drinking, they always liked Bix the person and tears were shed
upon his passing. Albert was to have an even greater sadness when
he lost both his beloved wife and his son Ceno in 1949.
Albert’s grandson, the late Vince Petersen (Ceno’s son), a retired
first violinist with the Symphony once said, “I kind of thought Bix
might be over rated…but then I heard one of his records and that
promptly changed my mind and I wanted to hear more.”
Everyone in the Petersen family loved their wonderful patriarch
Albert. One late afternoon when Bix Beiderbecke Society Vice
President Jim Petersen was riding with his parents and grandfather on
their way to Harry Petersen’s house for dinner in Moline, Albert made a
request. “Since we are a little early, could we stop at the
Moline Turner Hall just for a minute to see if anyone I know is
there?” Victor said, “Why sure Pa, I’ll go in with you.”
After a few minutes, Victor came out and he was dabbing at his eyes
with a handkerchief. “What’s wrong Vic?” came the inquiry from
his concerned wife Violet.
“Nothing” came the reply. “It’s just that every man in that place
stood up and came over and shook Pa’s hand and said how great it was to
see him, it just touched me to see the look in their eyes and the look
in Pa’s eyes too”. He may not have known all of them, but
they sure knew him. Many others loved Albert L. Petersen too …..
Gallery of Photographs. From
Jim Petersen's collection.
