SwingDJs

Jaco unfortunately made himself a target - we read his biography for book club and during book club we listened to a lot of his music. I still love listening to Weather Report's version of Birdland.

Brilliant bassist but he had severe addiction problems and was very antagonistic towards others; no one deserves to die such a violent death but he wasn't doing a lot to protect himself.

And I've heard a report that jazz musicians rank in the top 5 professions for percentage of alcoholism by group.

I know the old timers we listen to every week all drank heavy at one time but had to go on the wagon eventually.

Lil Hardin-Armstrong died while taking part in a Louis Armstrong Memorial Concert in Chicago two months after he died. She died while playing St. Louis Blues.

Here is one that I would like to know more about it:

"Bennie Moten died in 1935 from a botched tonsillectomy operation"

There is talk that his sudden death is clouded with rumors. Do any of you know or heard anything about it?

Perhaps some hard core Basie fanatic DJ travelled back in time and killed him so that Basie could take over the band?

Serg

I believe that under anesthesia he had a heart attack and died because of some sort of undetected heart weakness, but I could be confusing him with somebody else.

At any rate, he did die during what should have been a routine operation.

I think the official story was something like both of yours, but apparently some people think that the KC mob had Moten's surgeon kill him.

Trombonist Tommy Turk was shot to death during a convenience store robbery where he just happened to be shopping.

Trombonist Frank Rosolino killed himself, wife and child.

Walter Barnes died in a fire (or as the result of a fire) in a southern barn in which his Royal Creolians band was playing.

Tommy Dorsey choked to death in his sleep.

Tenor saxist Herbie Haymer was hit by a car on his way home from a Sinatra recording session.

Johnny Hodges died either in the dentist's chair or shortly there after.

That's enough....

Bennie Moten = Botched tonsillectomy (haemorrage)
Carleton Coon = Sepsis from dental surgery
Buddy Bolden = GPI secondary to syphillis
Tommy Dorsey = choked in his sleep secondary to heavy alcohol intake
Glenn Miller = ?? (plane wreck or....)
Bunny Berigan = Cirrhosis
Bix Beiderbecke = pneumonia secondary to alcohol withdrawal
Eddie Lang = died under anaesthesia during an appendectomy.
Chu Berry = car accident

More I can't think of right now...

There is a book out there that a doctor wrote, some sort of study of morbidity/mortatlity of jazz musicians; the author is a fan of the music, and compiled the research for reasons I can't exactly fathom...

Actually Eddie Lang died from a botched tonsilectomy.
Also, Charlie Christian died from TB which reportedly took a turn for the worse after some friends brought him some "comfort" from a lady friend.

Campus Five wrote:Actually Eddie Lang died from a botched tonsilectomy.
Also, Charlie Christian died from TB which reportedly took a turn for the worse after some friends brought him some "comfort" from a lady friend.

hmmmm... sure enough; I was thinking of somebody else.

What I did recall was that he only had the operation when his pal Bing Crosby talked him into it. Bing never got over the guilt he felt over that.

Jan Savitt = peritonitis secondary to a perofrated ulcer (horrible way to die).
Red McKenzie = Cirrhosis
Glen Gray = Cancer
Bessie Smith = car accident
Gene Krupa = heart attack and leukemia
Marion Harris = burned in an apartment fire after falling asleep with a lighted cigarette.

I thought I had read that some fellow jazz musician had brought him some marijuana while he was in the hospital.

And there is the famous jazz musician who died in a taxi cab crash circa 1930...I think it was Frank Teschmaker.....he died and Wild Bill Davidson, who was also in the cab, lived. My details are hazy on this one.

Bessie Smith's death was unbelievably tragic. She was in a car wreck while touring in the South, and was denied admittance to 3 different hospitals before the ambulance drivers could get into one that would take Blacks, some 3 hours after the wreck.

Killed by racists as surely as a lynching victim.