Jim Beebe has led his own regularly working band in Chicago since the mid-1970s, performing Dixieland, swing and mainstream standards. Back in 1948 when he was a teenager, Beebe heard the Jazz Ltd. band and was inspired to play trad jazz. After attending college in Wisconsin and serving in the military (where he played with the 3rd Marine Division Band), Beebe worked for three years with Bob Scobey. He was the replacement for the ailing Fred Assunto with the Dukes of Dixieland, played with the Salty Dogs and Little Brother Montgomery and went on a tour with the Stars of Jazz, an all-star group that included Art Hodes and Wild Bill Davison. A fixture in Chicago for decades, Jim Beebe recorded two albums for Delmark in 1979, one in 1996, and was a sideman on a Franz Jackson session for the label.