Paul
Bax: Founder of The JKD Brotherhood
The year was 1993. Everything appeared peaceful in the
so-called JKD Family, yet beneath the seemingly calm waters
of Bruce Lee's art, there was dissension among his students
that threatened the very foundation of the JKD hierarchy.
Enter Paul Bax, a dedicated individual in the study of the
life of Bruce Lee and his art of Jeet Kune Do. For the
previous nine years Bax had been compiling and accumulating
information about Lee's philosophy, students and most
importantly his method of fighting, "the way of the
intercepting fist." Throughout his "career" as a historian
on Bruce Lee and JKD, Bax was starting to uncover some
great discrepancies in what some of Lee's disciples were
preaching and what Bruce Lee actually professed in his own
teachings.
In April of 1993, Bax wrote the article that rocked the
world of Jeet Kune Do entitled, "THE RETURN OF BRUCE LEE'S
JEET KUNE DO". This article set off an avalanche of
criticism on one side of the JKD family and praise from the
other. While such phrases had circulated before, the terms
"Original Jeet Kune Do" and "Jeet Kune Do Concepts" were
now on the lips of anyone with even remote interest in
Lee's method of fighting. The battle lines had been drawn.
Who was really following what Bruce Lee had taught and
professed during his short and climactic life? Over the
next three years both sides exchanged jabs at one another,
with the wife of a certain student writing a harsh letter
to a prominent magazine claiming no-one but her spouse had
received their certification from Bruce Lee, thus making
him the only qualified individual to speak on Lee's art of
Jeet Kune Do. Any individual who would dare to question his
authority or actions in the development of Jeet Kune Do was
quite simply, wrong. Naturally, this letter served only to
stir the situation up and cause even more division.
Finally, in 1996, a meeting was called among Lee's top
students. In the months before the meeting, another Bruce
Lee historian, John Little, was called upon to provide
background as to what had been published in the magazines
over the previous years regarding Lee's art by people both
legitimate and "outsiders" within the realms of JKD. None
other than Bruce Lee's widow, Mrs. Linda Lee Cadwell, made
this request. Mr. Little, a comrade and friend of Bax's for
over two years, immediately remembered his collection of
articles on everything pertaining to Jeet Kune Do. After a
long day in front of a copier, Bax reproduced for the
"first lady of Jeet Kune Do," a mini-reproduction of my
massive collection of material regarding anything to do
with her late husband's art and disciples. After the
meeting took place, Mrs. Cadwell wrote a wonderful letter
thanking Bax for his efforts and wrote that the information
"was invaluable to my 'reeducation' as to what has been
happening in the world of Jeet Kune Do."
Paul Bax has been
involved in the martial arts since the early 1980's and
holds a black belt in Okinawa-Te karate. After
viewing Bruce Lee's movie, The Chinese Connection, Bax
dived into his study of Bruce Lee's life and art of Jeet
Kune Do. His journey has led him to speak privately
to numerous students of Bruce Lee who have kept in close
contact with him on a regular basis.
In 1993, Bax wrote and produced the newsletter, The Jun Fan
Journal, which had a very loyal following amongst JKD
practitioners and fans of the action stars movies.
While publishing the newsletter, he met and became friends
with John Little, the top Bruce Lee historian at the
time. Little and Bax corresponded frequently about
the political under currents in Bruce Lee's art of Jeet
Kune Do. Little conducted two highly informative
interviews with Bax that laid the groundwork to form the
now extinct governing body of Lee's art, The Jun Fan Jeet
Kune Nucleus. Little, per the request of Lee's widow,
Linda Lee, asked Bax to put together a binder of material
from his archives that outlined what has been claimed over
the years in regards to what was Jeet Kune Do for the first
"meeting of the minds" amongst Bruce Lee's most active and
or vocal students. Bax had previously worked in a
copy center where he was able to copy what he wanted, when
he wanted. Kym Huie, Bax's friend and coach, passed
on his vast magazine collection to the author, which he
then systematically documented every article about Bruce
Lee known to man. Bax kept up with the magazines
himself via subscriptions and like a librarian, catalogued
each article according to the author and or subject.
This material laid the groundwork to reveal what many have
suspected for years: not everyone is telling the truth
about their training and or time with Bruce Lee. Nor
were some telling the truth about Jeet Kune Do was as Lee
himself taught the art.
In 1996, Bax released his book, Reflections Of Bruce Lee,
a collection of his interviews with various students of
Bruce Lee. Although not widely distributed, the book
was a hit with fans that enjoyed having all of Bax's
treasured interviews in one place.
In 1997, Bax was one of
only a few hundred people invited to the first Jun Fan Jeet
Kune Do Nucleus seminar/banquet hosted by Lee's family and
students. To receive an invitation, one had to be
personally invited by a member of the JFJKD board
members. Both Linda Lee and LA Chinatown student,
Steve Golden, invited Bax to the esteemed event. The
seminar/banquet was a huge success with the hotel training
area packed to the max. A dinner followed which was quite
inspirational and motivational to all of the
attendants. Bax proudly gave a copy of his book to
Linda Lee, which she later included in recommended reading
material via the Nucleus organization's website and
newsletter.
After some heated battles on internet chat rooms with both
practitioners who did not see eye to eye with his views and
Linda Lee's second husband (Tom Bleecker) Bax decided to
take a break from his study of Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune
Do. He later returned with a vengeance when a friend
summoned him to a popular JKD forum. After causing
quite a stir, Bax was promptly banned from the site.
Sometimes the truth hurts. He went on to start his
own Internet chat forum, which is now called, The JKD
Brotherhood (formerly known as, "The Paul Bax Show").
The forum, which has members from across the globe is
honored by visits from such Lee students as Jesse Glover,
Jim DeMile, Steve Golden, Pat Strong and probably a few
others who want to remain anonymous. Participants in
the forum also include well known second generation
students such as William Holland, Tim Tackett, Chris
Sutton, Lamar Davis II, Bill Mattuci, Tommy Carruthers,
Joel "Chi Hand" Weingberg, Dr. Jerry Beasley, Rafael
Figuero, Richard Torres, Bob Landers and many, many
more. The site was listed in Inside Kung Fu as "dot
com of the month" and has had over a million visitors.
Paul Bax can be contacted via
email.
