Wardell Gray

[brownie]

I am pretty sure 'Estrad' picked the photo from a Swedish newspaper. The photo was most probably dstributed by AP or UPI, who had a quasi monopoly on the distribution of wirephotos in Europe at the time. The actual photo must have originated from a local (Las Vegas?) newspaper which was standard procedure back then. The original negative may still be archived at the newspaper.

No wonder the death of Wardell Gray was news in the Swedish newspapers since Gray had often played with the nation's jazz star Stan Hasselgard when he traveled to the USA in the late 40s.

[BeBop]

IIRC, the Jazz and Death (Frederick Spencer) book spends about 8 pages on Gray's demise, including a summary of the police investigation and autopsy report. I think the material is in the Trauma chapter, as opposed to Drugs or Homicide...though there was also speculation that Gray was mistaken for Sonny Stitt who had some bad dealing with drug dealers. Anyway, the book material is interesting; I wish I had it at-hand.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

so the photo is legit? oh my god. oh my god oh my god oh my god. i do not believe this this is happening. i am freaking out.

[Larry Kart]

so the photo is legit? oh my god. oh my god oh my god oh my god. i do not believe this this is happening. i am freaking out.

Put down your weapons and come out with your hands up.

[7/4]

ugly story, ugly photo.

yikes!

[brownie]

someone gotta post the cadence intiv. w/ teddy edwards

Here you go. Cadence 4/94 p. 16.

We played the first show and there was a girl, had been Frank Morgan's girlfriend, she somehow hooked up with Teddy Hill with the drug thing. So Wardell and Teddy were waiting for her to come into Vegas with the drugs. So standing backstage was Wardell, John Anderson and Jewel Grant, waiting on the girl, reminiscing about how great a time we had in Detroit, this band was like a family. So Teddy Hill came back and beckoned to Wardell. So we all started to walk out, Teddy asked me if I had fifty cents. We walked out and the last I saw them they were walking around this Fata Freeze (ice cream store) with John Anderson and Jewel Grant. We went on over to the housing for awhile. We came back and no Wardell, his horn sitting there on his seat. In Las Vegas at the time Black people weren't even allowed to go up on the strip, we called it the Iron Curtain. I said, Wardell can only be dead or in jail, there ain't nothing else he can do if he's not over here. So after the third set I packed his horn up. So the next day my wife, she was dancing in the show, we went down on D Street, which was the main drag in the black neighborhood, and we saw Teddy and his girl. So I said, "Man, what happened to you all?" And the girl started to say something and I saw Teddy shut her mouth with his eye, the look he gave her. I said something is drastically wrong. Teddy said, "Oh Wardell, he's wild, we hung out with him and then we left." You could tell it was a lie. This was about 2PM, then later it came out he was dead and they found him in the desert.

They say Wardell OD'ed, stood up, fell off the bed and broke his neck. What happened is when they dumped him out of the car they broke his neck. If they had taken him to the hospital he might have lived but they were afraid because they were dirty so they dumped him. I believe he was alive when they took him to the desert. But it wasn't foul play like gangsters, it wasn't that.

The June 16, 1955 issue of Jet magazine had a similar story on Wardell Gray's death:

from Jet magazine

[kh1958]

Scrolling down, Monk is on the Tonight Show Friday night.

An unnamed top jazz organist has trouble with the IRS for not paying over the withholding tax on his singer's pay.

Pianist Singer Alice Darr fills out a bikini.

Plus dancers with excellent legs.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

jet magazine is amazing

[Bright Moments]

Scrolling down, Monk is on the Tonight Show Friday night.

An unnamed top jazz organist has trouble with the IRS for not paying over the withholding tax on his singer's pay.

Pianist Singer Alice Darr fills out a bikini.

Plus dancers with excellent legs.

you missed the stories about sammy davis jr. getting a plastic eye and throwing away his eyepatch!!

and the one about "teenage" actor louis gossett in an accident.

i agree with chewy on this one!!!