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More clarity on Gary McFarland's death
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van
Oct 4, 2012, 3:09:28 AM10/4/12
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GM was one of my fave comp./arr., and a fun vibes player to listen to.
He always used guitar on most of his LPs- Sam Brown, Jimmy Raney, Gabor Szabo, and even his pop music was pretty nice.
He died in 1971 after somehow ingesting methadone in a drink in a bar in NYC's GreenWitch Village- Club 55.
A documentary, "This Is Gary McFarland", said that the methadone belonged to a skanky, junkie,alchie, poet/writer (he co-wrote, "Candy", with the equally skanky Terry Southern)named Mason Hoffenberg.
In an interview, Hoffenberg (who died in 1986) was asked about writer David Burnett. He said that he liked him. Then the interviewer said that he died recently. MH answered, "Yeah, I killed him."
The interviewer said, "Excuse me?"
MH then told the story about going into a club in NYC with two bags- one with clen underwear, and the other with two bottles of methadone. He was talking with David Burnett, and then left the club, but forgot the bag with the methadone. He said David Burnett and some other guy(McFarland) drank the methadone, and both died of heart attacks.
Gene Lees believed he had poisoned their drinks with the methadone, but the cops never investigated, and the case was closed.
The director of the doc says we'll probably never know the true story...
He always used guitar on most of his LPs- Sam Brown, Jimmy Raney, Gabor Szabo, and even his pop music was pretty nice.
He died in 1971 after somehow ingesting methadone in a drink in a bar in NYC's GreenWitch Village- Club 55.
A documentary, "This Is Gary McFarland", said that the methadone belonged to a skanky, junkie,alchie, poet/writer (he co-wrote, "Candy", with the equally skanky Terry Southern)named Mason Hoffenberg.
In an interview, Hoffenberg (who died in 1986) was asked about writer David Burnett. He said that he liked him. Then the interviewer said that he died recently. MH answered, "Yeah, I killed him."
The interviewer said, "Excuse me?"
MH then told the story about going into a club in NYC with two bags- one with clen underwear, and the other with two bottles of methadone. He was talking with David Burnett, and then left the club, but forgot the bag with the methadone. He said David Burnett and some other guy(McFarland) drank the methadone, and both died of heart attacks.
Gene Lees believed he had poisoned their drinks with the methadone, but the cops never investigated, and the case was closed.
The director of the doc says we'll probably never know the true story...
TD
Oct 4, 2012, 9:26:15 AM10/4/12
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-TD
Gerry
Oct 4, 2012, 12:14:01 PM10/4/12
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only 38 and an incredibly active and creative individual, was a real
loss to music.
--
Music is the best means we have of digesting time. -- W. H. Auden
thomas
Oct 4, 2012, 3:15:44 PM10/4/12
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van
Oct 4, 2012, 10:19:13 PM10/4/12
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On Thursday, October 4, 2012 9:26:16 AM UTC-4, TD wrote:
> On Thursday, October 4, 2012 3:09:28 AM UTC-4, van wrote: > GM was one of my fave comp./arr., and a fun vibes player to listen to. > > He always used guitar on most of his LPs- Sam Brown, Jimmy Raney, Gabor Szabo, and even his pop music was pretty nice. > > He died in 1971 after somehow ingesting methadone in a drink in a bar in NYC's GreenWitch Village- Club 55. > > A documentary, "This Is Gary McFarland", said that the methadone belonged to a skanky, junkie,alchie, poet/writer (he co-wrote, "Candy", with the equally skanky Terry Southern)named Mason Hoffenberg. > > In an interview, Hoffenberg (who died in 1986) was asked about writer David Burnett. He said that he liked him. Then the interviewer said that he died recently. MH answered, "Yeah, I killed him." > > The interviewer said, "Excuse me?" > > MH then told the story about going into a club in NYC with two bags- one with clen underwear, and the other with two bottles of methadone. He was talking with David Burnett, and then left the club, but forgot the bag with the methadone. He said David Burnett and some other guy(McFarland) drank the methadone, and both died of heart attacks. > > Gene Lees believed he had poisoned their drinks with the methadone, but the cops never investigated, and the case was closed. > > The director of the doc says we'll probably never know the true story... There were lots of mysterious and highly suspect deaths concerning junkies in or out of jazz history. The death of the cool jazz trumpter, Tony Fruscella comes immediately to mind. The behind the scenes rumour was a doozy. The reasons for the deaths of junkies and hookers, particularly back then, were not taken so seriously. Still a human being is a human being. I dug the recording he did with Raney. -TD
Fruscella recorded with Raney? Or are you talking about "Point of Departure", McFarland's recording with Raney?
Fruscella was a pretty dark figure, I can imagine the mess he got into.
The documentary director said McFarland had some substance abuse problems, but I don't know if he was a junkie.
He used Sam Brown on a lot of his records, and we know what happenned to SB.
He also did a lot of stuff with Gabor Szabo, and gabor turned out to be a big user. McFarland did the score for a pretty big film ("Eye of the Devil"-check out the harp solo!), and his Pop records were pretty popular, so he was becoming a very mainstream dude before his premature death at 38.
I was just listening to his "Big Band Bossa Nova" LP with Getz, and there was a great fingerstyle jazz guitar solo on one tune. I figured it would be Sam Brown, because he played a lot of fingerstyle stuff with McFarland, but it was Jim Hall!
TD
Oct 4, 2012, 10:46:53 PM10/4/12
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