Summer 2010 - The British Pain Society

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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
the possession of narcotics. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. Her New York City Cabaret card was evoked which prevented her from working in the clubs for the next 12 years. Holiday latterly deeply regretted her addiction. She is quoted as saying, “Dope (Heroin) never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better. All dope can do for you is kill you- and kill you the long, slow, hard way” “If you think dope is for kicks and thrills you are out of your mind. There are more kicks and thrills to be had in a good case of paralytic polio or by living in an iron lung” She was unable to kick the habit. Later in her career her voice began to deteriorate under the strain of smoking, heroin and alcohol abuse. On 31st May 1959, she was taken to metropolitan hospital. Police officers arrested her for possession of heroin and searched her room. She remained here until her death on July 17th 1959, aged 44, from cirrhosis of the liver. Gilbert Millstein of the New York Times described her death in the 1961 sleeve notes, “in the room from which a police guard had been removed- by court orderonly a few hours before her death, which, like her life was disorderly and pitiful. She had been strikingly beautiful, but she was wasted physically to a small, grotesque caricature of herself. The worms of every kind of excess- drugs were only one- had eaten her. “ Miles Davis (1926-1991) Miles Davis was an infamous trumpeter, band leader and composer. Davis started using heroin around 1950. He became depressed after his relationship to French actress Juliette Greco ended. This combined with a lack of appreciation from the critics and the fact that many of his contemporaries were using drugs led Davis to start taking heroin. At first he snorted it and then went on to using it intravenously. Davis was from an affluent family and did not seem to have social problems like Parker and Holiday. In 1953 his drug addiction was affecting his performances. Heroin had also killed two of his close friends Navarro and Webster. He eventually managed to kick the habit after returning to his father’s house in St Louis. After this he would spend time in towns like Detroit where he knew heroin was difficult to obtain. Davis’s addiction to heroin is unique in that it only lasted 4-5yrs. Davis never returned to heroin but it is reported that in his latter career he was addicted to other drugs, mostly cocaine. He finally managed to kick his cocaine habit in 1979 after he rekindled his relationship with actress Cicely Tyson. Davis died age 65 in 1991 from a stroke and pneumonia. Conclusion Jazz musicians of this time had many reasons for turning to heroin. Whether they used it to escape from troubled social circumstances, to cope with a disapproving society, to provide them with a “high” or in the mistaken belief that it would increase their creativity, most deeply regretted their addiction. particularly during the creative period from 1940-1960, substance abuse did more harm than good, and rather than being the road to creative genius, it was the pathway to premature death.” References Tolson,G.H. and Cuyjet M.J. (2007) jazz and substance abuse: Road to creative genius or pathway to premature death. International Journal of law and Psychiatry, 30,530-538 http://www.time.com/time/ magazine/article/0,9171,826388,00. html http://everything2.com/title/ Drugs+in+Jazz http://everything2.com/title/ Heroin+and+jazz www.bps-research-digest.blogspot. com/2008/01/would-jazz-greatshave-been-so-great.htm Tolson and Cuyjet summarized the lives of these addicted artists in their 2007 paper,” the untapped potential that was languished on drugs and alcohol by these artists shall never be fully revealed.”” The reality is [that] for most jazz artists, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Charlie_Parker en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Billie_Holiday en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Davis PAI N N E W S S U M M E R 2010 53
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Summer 2010 - The British Pain Society

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