It should be remembered that the accident that killed Clifford Brown also killed Richie Powell, Bud’s brother and an up-and-coming pianist in his own right.
Frankie Teschemacher was killed in a car driven by trumpeter Bill Davison. Alcohol was suspected, but never proven.
Pee Wee Russell drank himself to death twice (he was saved by emergency surgery in 1940, but his death was reported in the papers).
And of course, disease took many musicians: innovative bassist Jimmy Blanton and legendary guitarist Charlie Christian were both done in by tuberculosis, John Coltrane had pancreatic cancer, Billy Strayhorn got esophageal cancer. Eric Dolphy died in a diabetic coma, and legend has it that the hospital assumed it was drug-related.
