Summer 2010 - The British Pain Society

PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Narcotic Use in the
Creative Era of Jazz
Dr Aileen Clyde
Pain fellow Glasgow
“I think that trumpets and drugs
have always gone hand in hand”
Mark Ronson
"I saw the best minds of my
generation destroyed by madness,
starving hysterical naked, dragging
themselves through the negro
streets at dawn looking for an
angry fix, angelheaded hipsters
burning for the ancient heavenly
connection to the starry dynamo
in the machinery of night, who
poverty and tatters and holloweyed
and high sat up smoking
in the supernatural darkness of
cold-water flats floating across the
tops of cities contemplating jazz."
Allen Ginsberg
There was an epidemic of heroin
addiction among jazz artists
between 1940-1960. This period,
also known as the “creative era of
jazz”, saw the invention of styles
such as bebop, cool jazz, hard bop
and free jazz.
Charles Parker, Billie Holiday,
Miles Davies were some of the
famous Jazz musicians who were
addicted to narcotics. Some artists
were from troubled backgrounds,
had multiple social stresses and
may have experimented with
heroin as a form of escapism.
Cocaine and other “uppers” were
commonly used by these artists
to aid their musical performance.
Many would then turn to narcotics
to act as “downers”. Others used
the drug due to peer pressure or
because their jazz heroes used
the substance and they wanted to
emulate their life and music. After
experimenting with heroin, most
became addicted and struggled
throughout their career with their
addiction. Often it had seriously
negative effects on their career
and would lead to trouble with the
law, ill health and early death.
Charles Winick, a Manhattan
based Psychologist, studied jazz
artists and their drug use. He
commented that the benefits
these artists thought they got
from their heroin use were, a
feeling of group excitement or
“contact high”, release from
their personal problems and a
physical boost during long road
trips. Some have postulated
that drugs helped these artists to
release their creative talents and
cope with a disapproving society
at the time. They often had to
contend with segregation and
discriminatory practices. However,
the effect of drugs on these artists’
performance levels remains
uncertain.
The Extent of the Problem
Charles Winick published an
article in ‘Social Problems’ in 1957
alluding to the extent of heroin
use among jazz artists at the
time. He had interviewed 357 jazz
musicians on the habits of 2000
fellow jazz performers and found
that 53 % had tried heroin, 24%
took it occasionally and 16% used
it regularly. A survey conducted
at the 1957 Newport Jazz festival
of 409 New York Jazz musicians
found a similar extent of the
problem.
Hipsters
Jazz and heroin use were as
closely associated as their
terminology. The terms “hip” and
“hipster” were derived from opium
smoking, during which the addict
would lie on one hip.
Charles Parker (1920-1955)
Saxophonist and composer
Charles Parker was one of Jazz’s
best known addicts. This addiction
to narcotics started when Parker
was a teenager after he and his
first wife were involved in a car
accident. He sustained significant
injuries in this accident. Initially
he started using morphine for its
analgesic affect. He then started
using heroin and quickly became
addicted to it, an addiction that
would trouble him until this death
in 1955.
In his early career he would miss
gigs and at times busked in order
to feed his habit. He even pawned
his horn and would borrow fellow
performers’ instruments.
All aspiring young jazz artists
looked up to Parker. Some thought
heroin was the key to his success.
They wished to copy his music
and his lifestyle.
Occasionally, Parker would go
without heroin, for instance when
he was living in California and it
was in short supply. When the
drug was scarce he would turn
to alcohol. In 1946 his behavior
became erratic due to excess
alcohol and heroin use and
eventually he has admitted to
Camarillo state hospital. When
he came out of hospital in 1947,
Parker was initially clean from
drugs and did some of the
best recordings of his career.
His famous tune Moose the
Mooch was dedicated to his drug
pusher. Parker recorded “relaxin
in Camarillo” in reference to his
hospital stay.
In 1949 he is quoted as saying
for downbeat magazine, “Any
musician who says he’s playing
better either on ‘tea’ (marijuana),
the ‘needle’ or when he is ‘juiced’
is a plain straight liar”
Parker eventually returned to New
York and he started using heroin
again. In 1951 he was found in
possession of heroin and his
cabaret card was taken, leaving
him unable to perform in the New
York clubs. In 1953 he got his card
back but his reputation meant that
clubs did not want to employ him.
In1954 his health was dwindling
and he attempted suicide twice by
drinking iodine.
He died tragically young aged 34
on March 12th 1955. The official
cause of death is recorded as lobar
pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer.
The coroner mistakenly thought at
the autopsy that Parker’s body was
aged 50-60.
Billie Holiday (1915-1959)
Billie Holiday, known as “Lady
Day” was jazz’s first Diva. Billie
came from a troubled background.
She was born to a 13 year old
mother and was constantly
abandoned to friends and relatives
as a child. It is reported that
she was raped at age 11. This
allegation combined with frequent
truancy led to Billie being sent
to a catholic reform school in
1925. She grew up in the red light
district of Baltimore. She began
smoking marijuana in her teens
and was subsequently introduced
to heroin by her first husband.
She did not develop an addiction
to heroin until she met Joe Guy,
who latterly became her husband.
He was a trumpet player, heroin
dealer and hardened heroin
user. In 1947 she was arrested for
52
PAI N N E W S S U M M E R 2010