Not that academics are running out of things to study or anything, but a Manchester based psychologist has just completed a piece of research that suggests jazz greats are more likely to be prone to mental illness, abuse, and drugs, say researchers. Dr Geoffrey Wills looked at the biographies of 40 world-renowned musicians and found that those he studied appeared eight times more likely to have suffered from drug dependency and four times more likely to have mood disorders.
Wills says: "I am not trying to say that all jazz musicians are crazy, but I have highlighted a trend in mental health problems that is comparable to other creative people."
If you're interested, the research is published in the latest edition of the British Journal of Psychiatry.