Swan Songs Jazz, Death and Famous Last Concerts

Numerous jazz releases are called the last date or the final concert, to underline that they document the end of a musical career. Biographies, documentaries, and liner notes tend to zoom in on these moments, which accrue new meaning in light of the impending death of the musician. This chapter looks at how such performances are fetishized and mythologized. It introduces a number of case studies: Miles Davis’s revisiting of earlier work at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Chet Baker’s fatal fall from an Amsterdam hotel window, Clifford Brown’s supposed final concert, and Ben Webster’s last recording and “prophetic words” in public.