Al Jackson Jr.

popular name: Scrapper Blackwell

date_of_death: October 7, 1962

age: 59

cause_of_death: Murdered (solved but no arrest)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Scrapper Blackwell, together with Leroy Carr are arguably the two most underrated blues musicians of the 1920s and 1930s. What is undeniable is the two together created some of the most recorded blues classics including How Long, How Long Blues, Mean Mistreater Mama and When the Sun Goes Down

popular name: Coleman Hawkins

date_of_death: May 19, 1969

age: 64

cause_of_death: Liver disease

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Coleman Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and considered by many to be the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. Hawkins was one of the most influential tenor saxophonists in the history of jazz and a major figure in shaping the instrument’s role in the genre. He rose to prominence in the 1920s as a member of Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra, where his powerful tone and harmonic sophistication helped establish the tenor saxophone as a leading jazz instrument. In the 1930s Hawkins spent several years in Europe before returning to the United States and recording his landmark 1939 version of Body and Soul, a revolutionary performance that emphasized improvisation and advanced harmony and became one of jazz’s most celebrated recordings. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s he remained at the forefront of jazz, collaborating with emerging bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk, showing a rare ability to adapt to new styles. Known for his rich, full tone and complex improvisations, Hawkins recorded extensively and continued performing internationally until the late 1960. Hawkins's virtuosic, arpeggiated approach to improvisation, with his characteristic rich, emotional, and vibrato-laden tonal style, was the main influence on a generation of tenor players that included Chu Berry, Charlie Barnet, Tex Beneke, Ben Webster, and Vido Musso. While Hawkins became known with swing music during the big band era, he had a role in the development of bebop in the 1940s.

popular name: Oscar Levant

date_of_death: August 14, 1972

age: 65

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Oscar Levant was a brilliant composer and pianist who originally studied seriously with Zygmunt Stojowski and later with Arnold Schoenberg. After New York he moved to Los Angeles where he met and befriended George Gershwin. From 1929 to 1948 he composed the music for more than twenty movies and began making the rounds on TV games shows and quickly gained notorioty for his acerbic "wit." When Greshwin passed away Levant became the leading interpreter and virtuoso performer of the Gershwin catalog. Appearing in films (such as American in Paris; usually as himself or as the host pianist) he could always be counted on for his stoic and sarcastic on-screen persona. In later years he became increasing dependent on alcohol, chain smoking and prescription drugs so much so he was committed multiple times to a mental institution.