Arnold Schoenberg

popular name: Bunk Johnson

date_of_death: July 7, 1949

age: 63

cause_of_death: Lingering effects of a stroke

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Willie "Bunk" Johnson was an prominent jazz trumpeter in New Orleans who lied and/or exaggerated his role in the development of jazz that historians have a difficult time understanding the truth from fiction. But what everyone agrees on is that Johnson was regarded as one of the leading trumpeters in New Orleans in the years 1905–1915, in between repeatedly leaving the city to tour with minstrel shows and circus bands. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, Bunk Johnson spent much of his music-playing time in the southwest Louisiana/southeast Texas region with New Iberia, Louisiana as his “base” and primary residence. While in the area he played frequently with the locally-based Banner Band, which traveled in a variety of vehicles to nearby southern Louisiana and Texas towns. Unlike many other jazz musicians Bunk did not achieve great monetary wealth, but he never shied away from jobs that helped supplement his music income. Along the path of his life, Johnson worked in such jobs as funeral parlor work in Texas, dock work in San Francisco, cigar-making work in the upper mid-west, rice processing and sugar cane field truck-driving in Iberia Parish, and a music teacher in the Iberia Parish, Louisiana school system. In 1942 William Russell and two other jazz researchers went to New Orleans and made a series of records of Bunk playing with a band that included George Lewis (clarinet) and Jim Robinson (trombone). The researchers also interviewed Johnson, who claimed he had taught Louis Armstrong and Joe "King" Oliver (actually Louis Armstrong admitted he mimicked King Oliver and Bunk Johnson style - but never was taught by Bunk). With the help from contacts in Cleveland and the new recordings, Johnson set off on a wild seven-year jazz history odyssey, playing in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, New Orleans, Chicago and Philadelphia, being praised by the press, and making dozens of records that were said to be authentic recreations of the earliest forms of jazz. The enthusiastic jazz researchers who found Johnson and promoted him, quickly discovered, however, they had created something of a monster. According to the many, Bunk emerged as essentially a manipulative con man, often begging the researchers for money, frequently getting drunk, and sometimes failing to show up for concerts. Eventually, Johnson managed to alienate most of his friends. Sidney Bechet fired him from his band and Armstrong, who in 1939 praised Bunk as his "life-long inspiration," later said angrily, "Bunk taught me nothing!" The Bunk Johnson saga ended when he suffered two strokes in late 1948. He died the following July.

popular name: Asie Payton

date_of_death: May 19, 1997

age: 60

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Asie Payton was a delta blues musician who made his living as a farmer his entire life. Relatively unknown outside of Mississippi, for two years before his passing Fat Possum records tried unsuccessfully to convince Asie that the world outside Mississippi needed to hear him. But despite living below the poverty level and desperately needing the easy money of a gig, he could not be lured away from Holly Ridge for more than a couple of hours.

popular name: Sergei Rachmaninoff

date_of_death: March 28, 1943

age: 69

cause_of_death: Melanoma

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Sergei Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor and is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. Rachmaninoff’s music is known for its complexity and the rich melodies that take audiences on a journey of soaring, expansive emotions. His various piano concertos bear testament to a mastery and knowledge of that instrument’s nuances that puts him among the greatest artists in classical music. He didn’t have that one distinctive piece that makes a connection to his music easy, such as Ludwig von Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5,” Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” or Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” Rachmaninoff’s signature piece, his “Piano Concerto No. 2,” is considered the greatest piano concerto ever written—an intense display of piano virtuosity that illustrates the composer’s depth and breadth better than anything in his repertoire. His early fame came with the Prelude in C-sharp Minor, but his first symphony's failure in 1897 led to a deep depression and creative crisis. He eventually recovered and made a triumphant return with his Piano Concerto No. 2, which remains one of his most beloved works. Rachmaninoff became internationally known for his virtuosic piano playing and deeply expressive compositions, including the Piano Concerto No. 3, Symphony No. 2, and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. After leaving Russia due to the 1917 Revolution, he settled in the United States, where he focused more on performance and conducting, composing less frequently. His final major work, Symphonic Dances, reflects a nostalgic and reflective tone. Upon his death, he was interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.