Jazz legend Kenny Burrell requesting help with medical bills among other things*

If it does turn out to be a fraud, GoFundMe will refund any donations, it looks like. So there shouldn't be too much harm if people click right through and donate.

 

I hope Kenny Burrell is not in financial troubles. The Gofundme page has been widely shared. In the list of donors, there are names of well known jazz musicians, who donated hundreds of dollars each.

Since Kenny Burrell is a celebrity, I wonder if Gofundme has precautions to prevent identity theft.

 

"Chris" said, on FB: I asked Kenny via his FB page, and he responded that this is fraudulent. Don't donate, and please report to gofundme.

so... is this true or not?

 

Has the look of something suspicious!

 

Saw all of the responses about this might not being legit. It is sad that there have been a few high profile fraud cases on Go Fund Me and it makes it hard when you see someone that you really would want to help. I saw this response on a jazz website:

heard from his wife katherine who moderates his official facebook page that this is legit

 

What website ?

 

Katherine Goodrich-Burrell has replied on the Jazz Times FB page:

"This is Kenny’s wife. This is legitimate."
"Our story can be verified with the Jazz Foundation NY."

JazzTimes FB

Since Jazz Times has raised the doubts 9 hours ago, I expected them to clear things up quickly, but it seems that they slept over it.

 

He sold records and played on hundreds of sessions -- where did his royalties go ?

 

And he still performs too!

 

I live here... I'm the one who is afraid.

 

You know, something about this seemed fishy to me as well, so I did my own research.

Googling "Katherine Goodrich-Burrell" brings up her home address, which also reveals that she lives with a Kenneth Earl Burrell, so that looks legit. Her Facebook page reveals little personal info other than she supports progressive causes and civil rights.

This exchange on the Jazz Times FB page offers some appearance of legitimacy:

Guy Eckstine i thought this was very odd. kenny is a tenured professor at UCLA for almost 50 years and there's no way he does not have the best health insurance on the planet. this is very fishy, and i seriously doubt kenny would ever approve something like this..

• Katherine Goodrich-Burrell My husband has not been tenured for 50 years. He has only been full time for 20 years. He was on medical leave for 2 years. My medical expenses as his sole caregiver exceed his monthly income by thousands of dollars. Additionally, we were victims of bank fraud, and Bank of America will not return the funds. We are also in litigation and facing foreclosure.
  
  
• Katherine Goodrich-Burrell I wouldn’t say it’s the best insurance on the planet. It costs us more than $2000 per month. Once someone is at home, insurance only covers 5 weeks of services—then, you’re on your own. I am his sole caregiver. There is no coverage for certified nursing assistants.

 

He's way over 65, isn't he on Medicare? Why would he have to pay 2000 dollars a month for health insurance?

I don't see anything on Katherine Burrell's Facebook page about Kenny. And no friends either. This looks very suspicious.

 

"Once someone is at home, insurance only covers 5 weeks of services—then, you’re on your own." I don't know if this is verifiable or not.

 

Retired people on Medicare are usually at home. This seems kind of suspicious.

 

I’ve produced major-league jazz concerts in upstate NY since the early 90s. Around 1993 I drew up a wish list and Kenny was at the top. It was harder to make it happen because he was based in CA and there are higher travel costs involved than with an artist coming up from NYC. I’d try every year but couldn’t make it happen. After 9/11 I was told by several agents that Kenny would not fly anymore. If so, that would have precluded performing in Japan and Europe - where the big money is for jazz artists - as well as the East Coast of the U.S. So that would have significantly limited his income (as well as playing on sessions in NYC). I’m familiar with all the jazz agencies / managers and have talked with them all regularly throughout the years. Kenny was off the radar. That’s an arms length view from my perspective (and if he did do dates outside of CA, I admittedly missed that they happened.) He did have the teaching gig at UCLA long before the explosion in college jazz programs. A lot of notable jazz musicians have opted for the financial base / security of academia as well as the better family life outside of NYC, especially if they have kids. But most still tour to supplement their income and stay connected with the live jazz audience.

 

I'm confident the record labels did the right thing in sending him any agreed royalty on records sold, but we are now in the era of streaming. No one is buying LPs or optical discs anymore, except a few of us fanatics. You may have seen my posts about how horrible services run by the tech elite are for music fans and artists alike. If you think YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon or any of the other services are doing the right thing (not just in royalty payments but in any sphere of law and privacy, including private property rights) you need to take a closer look at how the big boys operate.

 

There is nothing on his official page either, but also, there is nothing on either of their FB pages refuting it. I am sure, that if so many have contacted Kenny through his FB page and he replied it was fraudulent, he or his wife would have posted it was a scam. So, it is at best, a hard read. But, maybe Kenny didn't know his wife did this, who knows. It is a hard read, but I donated anyway, because if it's true, he deserves our help. And, every time a big scam was found out on Go Fund Me, the money was returned to those who donated.

 

Can we keep this on topic? It's not about his records and royalties. What's up with this Gofundme story? Is it legit or not?

 

I don't mean to be a naysayer, but I'd wait for more confirmation.

Yes, it's certainly possible this is legitimate.

Medicare does not cover full-time, 24/7 care. That could cost $2K a month or more, just like the person claiming to be Mrs. Burrell stated. They could have been robbed and there could be issues with getting money returned. They may have money and eviction issues.

Then again, it's possible it is a scam. The person claiming to be his wife may not be his wife, but instead an identity thief. Some of the things she states don't make that much sense without more information. The person states they have to pay $2K a month for insurance, which could be true with some Medicare Advatage plans, although those usually top out at a few hundred bucks a month, tops. Kenny didn't just start teaching at UCLA 20 years ago. He's been lecturing at least part-time since 1978 and was the current UCLA jazz program's founding director 23 years ago. He is a distinguished professor, which means, yes, he's tenured. UCLA wouldn't let a part-time lecturer found a program as a director if they weren't tenured. And, there's a million dollar-plus chair endowed in his honor. Kenny Burrell was as high up the food chain as a humanities professor could be. You can read about his academic career on UCLA's site:

You are being redirected...

Also, if you read through the thread, someone claiming to be Kenny has denied the legitimacy of this GoFundMe.

Yes, there's all sorts of reasons this could all be true. There's also all sorts of reasons it could be a scam. I'd wait for Jazz Times to confirm. Note also that the Jazz Foundation, which Kenny's supposed wife said could confirm the situation, has no news about this on their site or Facebook account.

Buyer beware, is what I am saying. I'd wait for a little more news

 

Why should we believe this person posing as Katherine Burrell is his wife? Have you looked at the Facebook page? No mention of Kenny Burrell. No Friends listed. But there's some Christian proselytizing.

 

Yeah, I actually regret posting this now. I wish there was a definitive answer.

 

I'm not saying believe it, but the whole thing, who knows. And I looked at her FB page. It is not a new page and some of the replies to her post also say things like "I hope you and Kenny are doing good", so if her page is a scam, there are a lot of others involved with it. Tough read.

 

I didn't know about the Kenny Burrell Chair created at UCLA, but it's the Herb Alpert music school. Alpert is a very wealthy philanthropist, so why would Mrs Burrell be begging for donations at GoFundMe? Wouldn't Herb help them out?

 

I actually think you did the right thing and I thank you for posting this. If it turns out this is true, good. If it turns out this was a deception, well, those who gave will get their donations back. People that know him have donated, so that makes it even harder to figure out. The ones who shouldn't have made a post was Jazz Times. You think they would have done their homework prior to posting. Anyway, you did a good posting it.