That night, Sandke believes, Bix passed out onstage while performing with Paul Whiteman’s orchestra in the New Music Hall in Cleveland. Later, in a fit of delirium, according to trombonist and friend Bill Rank, Bix cracked up and broke up a roomful of furniture at the hotel.

Whiteman called for a doctor and nurse and ordered Bix back to Davenport. Instead, Bix headed to New York, but he was a changed man, Sandke said. The episode left Bix with severe peripheral neuropathy affecting both of his legs and feet as well as chronic pneumonia, which eventually killed him. His kidneys and liver didn’t function properly. He suffered from headaches, dizziness, blackouts, memory loss and had to use a cane to get around. Bix was only 26 at the time.

The symptoms are those of someone who has been a victim of alcohol poisoning.

“It seems to me there was a definite break in his life from the time he had that breakdown in Cleveland,” Sandke said. “His health never really recovered from that point on.

"If you listen to his music from that point on, he rallies and he records some great stuff. He’s not in the studio not nearly as often as he had before then because of his physical problem."