Who Have You Outlived?

[johnblitweiler]

I too would probably enjoy conversing with Philip K. Dick. What a compelling writer, when he was writing well. But Divine Invasions by Lawrence Sutin gives the impression that Dick only thought he was a thinker.

Where are the musicians of my youth? The New Orleans musicians, the swing musicians, beboppers? (sigh)

[paul secor]

I'm just trying to live my life as best I can. I don't think about how my longevity compares to other's.

[Brad]

My parents. My father died of a heart attack at 56 and for years I was convinced I wouldn't make it to 56. That was eight years ago

[Shawn]

You have been alive 16,239 days.

Here are your closest "competitors":

You've outlived Billie Holiday by 67 days.

If you make it 27 more days, you will outlive Tyrone Power.

Age at Death Days Alive Days
Diff. Name 45 16673 434 Ricky Nelson 45 16598 359 George Reeves 45 16535 296 Walter Payton 45 16516 277 Freddie Mercury 44 16436 197 Marvin Gaye 44 16265 26 Tyrone Power - 16239 0 You are here 44 16172 -67 Billie Holiday 44 16072 -167 Pablo Escobar 43 15860 -379 Dan Blocker 43 15838 -401 Natalie Wood

[Jim R]

My parents. My father died of a heart attack at 56 and for years I was convinced I wouldn't make it to 56. That was eight years ago

Good for you, Brad. Take care of that ticker (something I've had to do over the past few years myself due to afib, and having heart-related issues in the family genes).

In terms of this topic (which I don't think I fully get), I tend to think along the same lines as you. My dad passed away in 1983 (cancer, despite being a very health-conscious physician who always lived clean) at age 62. My brothers are now 66 and 62 (both have gotten past heart episodes within the past few years), and I'm about to turn 59. On the other side of the tree, my mom is 93.

[danasgoodstuff]

(i had no idea Otis was only 26. Thats insane.)

Yep. Amazing how much he accomplished in that short time and how he changed music.

For a Detroiter, that's an amazing statement. Soul developed between Billy Ward & the Dominoes' "Have mercy baby" in 1952 (Clyde McPhatter lead) and The Falcons' "I found a love" in 1962 (Wilson Pickett lead, plus Eddie Floyd, Sir Mack Rice and one of the 4 Tops' brother - the backing band later became the Ohio Players). Nothing that Otis, O V Wright, Carr or Aretha did after that took Soul further into church than "I found a love". (Soul is the classic instance of the innovators not being as good as some of those who followed.)

MG

PS the other members of the Falcons were Joe Stubbs (Eli's brother) and Ben Night. And the band in those days was known as "The Ohio Untouchables")

Singing like you're in (a particular sort of) church when you're not isn't all there is to soul, much less music. "I Found a Love" is wonderful and soulful and churchy, but things continued to change in all sorts of ways thereafter. and Otis was a big part of that.

[GA Russell]

My parents. My father died of a heart attack at 56 and for years I was convinced I wouldn't make it to 56. That was eight years ago

Brad, that was exactly the outlook of Mickey Mantle. I believe that all of the men in his family died before they reached 50. Mantle assumed that he would die young too, so he didn't take care of himself. I gather that he was very surprised to turn 50.

[ejp626]

My parents. My father died of a heart attack at 56 and for years I was convinced I wouldn't make it to 56. That was eight years ago

Brad, that was exactly the outlook of Mickey Mantle. I believe that all of the men in his family died before they reached 50. Mantle assumed that he would die young too, so he didn't take care of himself. I gather that he was very surprised to turn 50.

I knew someone in grad school where almost no one in her family had made it out of their mid 40s! So she definitely had a party-hard, die-young mentality. Wonder where she is now? She'd be about 43...

Most of the folks in my family made it to 80 and a few to 90, so we'll see.

[BillF]

To put this in a jazz context, I was going to quote the extremes of Charlie Christian or Scott LaFaro (25) and Eubie Blake (100), when I found out to my disappointment on Wikipedia that Eubie was in fact a mere 96 :-(

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

(i had no idea Otis was only 26. Thats insane.)

Yep. Amazing how much he accomplished in that short time and how he changed music.

For a Detroiter, that's an amazing statement. Soul developed between Billy Ward & the Dominoes' "Have mercy baby" in 1952 (Clyde McPhatter lead) and The Falcons' "I found a love" in 1962 (Wilson Pickett lead, plus Eddie Floyd, Sir Mack Rice and one of the 4 Tops' brother - the backing band later became the Ohio Players). Nothing that Otis, O V Wright, Carr or Aretha did after that took Soul further into church than "I found a love". (Soul is the classic instance of the innovators not being as good as some of those who followed.)

MG

PS the other members of the Falcons were Joe Stubbs (Eli's brother) and Ben Night. And the band in those days was known as "The Ohio Untouchables")

Singing like you're in (a particular sort of) church when you're not isn't all there is to soul, much less music. "I Found a Love" is wonderful and soulful and churchy, but things continued to change in all sorts of ways thereafter. and Otis was a big part of that.

The big change spearheaded (but not initiated) by Otis Redding was in the backing, particularly the drumming of Al Jackson, which developed within months into funk. So, effectively, soul was replaced in terms of popular black music development by funk. In terms of people liking it, of course, it carried on, and became even more popular.

MG

[paul secor]

Possibly so, but I think that James Brown and Sly had more to do with that. To my ears, Otis' music was more rural than most funk.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Possibly so, but I think that James Brown and Sly had more to do with that. To my ears, Otis' music was more rural than most funk.

Sly was years after 'Out of sight'. And I know you know Alvin Robinson's recordings which were before that. And the Mar-Keys were the beginning. The whole of Stax would have been zilch without them.

Funk, to a large extent, represented the resurgence of jazz in popular black music and the vocalists contributed little to that (except to the extent that they - like JB and a few others - were musicians too).

MG

[Milestones]

I'm 54 now, which means I have outlived Shakespeare by a couple of years.

In jazz, I have outlived Bill Evans by 3 years.

I'm creeping up on Mingus.

Needless to say, they all accomplished plenty with their time on earth.

[paul secor]

Possibly so, but I think that James Brown and Sly had more to do with that. To my ears, Otis' music was more rural than most funk.

Sly was years after 'Out of sight'. And I know you know Alvin Robinson's recordings which were before that. And the Mar-Keys were the beginning. The whole of Stax would have been zilch without them.

Funk, to a large extent, represented the resurgence of jazz in popular black music and the vocalists contributed little to that (except to the extent that they - like JB and a few others - were musicians too).

MG

A lot of people had an influence on what came to be called funk. You could bring up Horace Silver, Bobby Timmons, and Cannonball as influences.

I still think that the rural quality of Otis' music wasn't something found in most funk. I would agree with you that Al Jackson, Jr. had an influence on funk.

This an argument that could go on and on and never be resolved. I agree with much of what you say.

As far as this thread goes, both of us have outlived Otis, Al Jackson, Jr., Bobby Timmons, and Cannonball - for whatever that's worth.

[Milestones]

Like Jazzbo, I must mention Philip K. Dick. Only 53 when he passed, but he put together three decades of prolific writing. He is my favorite SF writer, and one of my favorite writers of all time.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Possibly so, but I think that James Brown and Sly had more to do with that. To my ears, Otis' music was more rural than most funk.

Sly was years after 'Out of sight'. And I know you know Alvin Robinson's recordings which were before that. And the Mar-Keys were the beginning. The whole of Stax would have been zilch without them.

Funk, to a large extent, represented the resurgence of jazz in popular black music and the vocalists contributed little to that (except to the extent that they - like JB and a few others - were musicians too).

MG

A lot of people had an influence on what came to be called funk. You could bring up Horace Silver, Bobby Timmons, and Cannonball as influences.

I still think that the rural quality of Otis' music wasn't something found in most funk. I would agree with you that Al Jackson, Jr. had an influence on funk.

This an argument that could go on and on and never be resolved. I agree with much of what you say.

As far as this thread goes, both of us have outlived Otis, Al Jackson, Jr., Bobby Timmons, and Cannonball - for whatever that's worth.

INDEED WE HAVE!

MG

[Jazzmoose]

Needless to say, they all accomplished plenty with their time on earth.

Yeah. Kind of makes you feel guilty...

[Milestones]

Sadly true.