SwingDJs

Well, the name of thread the says it all. I am looking for unusual deaths of important Jazzman/Jazzwoman. Cancer, old age, stroke, etc don't coun't. I go first:

Jimmie Lunceford:

Died in 1947 after eating lunch, poisoned by a racist restaurant owner who was very reluctant about feeding his band.

Shirley Scott:

Died in 2002. Her heart was damaged by the diet drug combination, fen-phen. Was awarded 8 million dollars from manufacturers of the drug as settlement of a lawsuit.


Serg

This is kind of a morbid thread Serg!

Not sure if this qualifies, but Joe Williams died after getting out of his hospital bed, walking out thru the hospital doors and walking more than two miles to his home. He was only a few blocks from his home when he collapsed and died.

“He indicated to the staff he was leaving and that he would be back in a moment, that he’d be right back,”

If he qualifies: Glen Miller disappeared during WW2 in a plane over the English Channel. I don't think the details of what happened to the plane have ever been specifically discovered.

trev wrote:Not sure if this qualifies, but Joe Williams died after getting out of his hospital bed, walking out thru the hospital doors and walking more than two miles to his home. He was only a few blocks from his home when he collapsed and died.

“He indicated to the staff he was leaving and that he would be back in a moment, that he’d be right back,”

Nice one. I didn't know that.

Serg

trev wrote:Not sure if this qualifies, but Joe Williams died after getting out of his hospital bed, walking out thru the hospital doors and walking more than two miles to his home. He was only a few blocks from his home when he collapsed and died.

“He indicated to the staff he was leaving and that he would be back in a moment, that he’d be right back,”

I think that was in Vegas. He used to play small concerts there. When I saw him, he had mad drunk eyes - which is probably what killed him.

Kalman

you saw Joe Williams?!?!?!
what year was this?
was he awesome?

Hell... 1997? He was in Dallas shortly after I moved here too but I missed it. He was phenomenal but very sick. His version of "Georgia Rose" still stands out in my mind - best ever.

Kalman

Yakov wrote:If he qualifies: Glen Miller disappeared during WW2 in a plane over the English Channel. I don't think the details of what happened to the plane have ever been specifically discovered.

Rumor has it that this official story was a War Department cover-up for finding him drunk-dead in a brothel in France. Rumor, that is... but it qualifies for the thread.

Or worse, that he may have been the unwanted recipient of American bombers jettisoning ordinance over the Channel. The concussive force alone would have been enough to drop a small one-engine into the water.

Kalman

Bennie Moten died in a fluke accident at the dentist's when he was getting his tonsils taken out. Oye vey.

Eddie Lang died having his tonsils out has well.
Charlie Christian died from TB after what was essentially a three-year career..

i know it's not death, but it's related:
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson lost all his hair from a bad hair-growth tonic.

another one:
Someone posts a thread about deaths of jazz musicians. The next day, Artie Shaw dies.

I shared this thread with my boyfriend and he had this one to add:

"Jaco Pastorius got beaten to death in an alley after one of his shows because he owed cats money."