Will Friedwald's "A Biographical Guide To the Great Jazz &

[Larry Kart]

About Susannah McCorkle's suicide, Friedwald writes:

"When the phone rang on the morning of Saturday, May 19, 2001, it wasn't Susannah herself, but news about her. When I learned that a few hours earlier she had jumped out of her sixteenth-floor apartment on the Upper West Side, I, like most of her friends and fans, immediately started playing all my Susannah CDs."

[GA Russell]

Larry, my guess is that that is a common reaction. I seem to recall that sales of Elvis's records skyrocketed immediately after his death, and I think that is true for others as well. Pretty sure about Michael Jackson as well.

[JSngry]

Fairly creepy passage, though maybe it's just me

It's not just you.

[Christiern]

Creepy, indeed. I probably knew Susannah better than Will did, but it never occurred to me to play her recordings just because she had passed away. I guess that is common practice, though, for we often see that as a reaction by members of this board. Phil Schaap, goes whole hog and plays the departed's records for days.

[J.A.W.]

I guess that is common practice, though, for we often see that as a reaction by members of this board.

It is, I've also seen it happen on other music boards. Strange phenomenon.

[paul secor]

It's not all that unusual. How many times has a musician died and over the next few days we see people listing their recordings on the Now Listening To thread?

I usually find it difficult to listen to the music of a musician who has just passed, but people react in different ways to situations.

[Alexander]

Some people find it comforting to hear the voice of the departed or to listen to them perform, knowing that this is one way in which they will NEVER die. It's different when someone dies of a wasting illness or old age. Death is expected. But Susannah's death - like the deaths of Spalding Gray or Hunter Thompson - was doubly shocking, because we had allowed ourselves the illusion that we knew her, and because it was violent and self-inflicted. I can see someone seeking comfort after learning of such a death...

[medjuck]

I remember learning of Trane's death and spending the evening listening to A Love Supreme.

[Larry Kart]

I know, but to me there's something about the rhythm and tone of Friedwald's prose here that makes it all about him. And he does claim to have been a close friend of McCorkle.

I should add that in the continuation of this passage, Friedwald states or implies that he was listening in large part not to memorialize her or to ease his sense of loss but to see if he could find hints in her music of why McCorkle killed herself. Oddly perhaps, that doesn't strike me as creepy as the sentences I quoted do, which again my say more about me than about him.

I guess it's "When the phone rang ... it wasn't Susannah herself..." He sounds like a vampire, a soul-sucker.

[JSngry]

I know, but to me there's something about the rhythm and tone of Friedwald's prose here that makes it all about him. And he does claim to have been a close friend of McCorkle.

I should add that in the continuation of this passage, Friedwald states or implies that he was listening in large part not to memorialize her or to ease his sense of loss but to see if he could find hints in her music of why McCorkle killed herself. Oddly perhaps, that doesn't strike me as creepy as the sentences I quoted do, which again my say more about me than about him.

I guess it's "When the phone rang ... it wasn't Susannah herself..." He sounds like a vampire, a soul-sucker.

I've previously referred to Friedwald as essentially a "fanboy" instead of a serious, musically astute critic. Nothing here dissuades me of that notion.

[Christiern]

"I guess it's "When the phone rang ... it wasn't Susannah herself..." He sounds like a vampire, a soul-sucker. "

Italics are mine.

That could be in there to underline his close friendship with Susannah. Was there a point made by bringing up her suicide?

[Bill Nelson]

"When the phone rang ... it wasn't Susannah herself..." smacks of the chummy, insider coterie which affected much of Gene Lees' writings. In Friedwald's 'Biographical Guide', this personal aside is superceded by a tone of bragging.

[Dmitry]

When the phone rang, it wasn't M&M himself, but news about him. When I learned that the great Marceau was no more, I, like most of his friends and fans, immediately started playing all my Marcel Marceau CDs.

Needless to say, it was a quiet night.

[Christiern]

Dimitry

[Larry Kart]

"I guess it's "When the phone rang ... it wasn't Susannah herself..." He sounds like a vampire, a soul-sucker. "

Italics are mine.

That could be in there to underline his close friendship with Susannah. Was there a point made by bringing up her suicide?

The point seems to be, in almost the whole long entry about McCorkle, to view her career from the vantage point of her suicide -- as in "Why did she do it?," "Does her music foreshadow her death in ways we ought to have recognized?" etc. For example, Friedwald writes: "...in the light of what happened on May 2001, it's difficult to listen to those final two albums and resist the temptation of finding new meaning in songs like 'Something To Live For' and 'Down'...."

But such curiosity, if that's the right term for it, boils down in this entry IMO to Friedwald saying, "Hey -- when my phone rang, it wasn't unusual for Susannah McCorkle to be on the line."

[Christiern]

"But such curiosity, if that's the right term for it, boils down in this entry IMO to Friedwald saying, 'Hey -- when my phone rang, it wasn't unusual for Susannah McCorkle to be on the line'."

I think so.

[Christiern]

It reminds me of my visit to Christine Jørgensen (the in/famous sex-change pioneer), at her home in Massapequa (Long Island), many years ago. I was there with Richard Lamparski, who was to interview her.

As we sat in the living room, her cocker spaniel rushed in, tail wagging like mad, to check out the visitors.

"OOOh," said Christine, in a tone people use when addressing a baby. "Now, now, it's alright darling." Then she turned to me and said, as if to explain something, "she misses her Aunt Bette."

"Oh," said.

"Yes, she simply ado-o-ores Bette Davis."