Afropop Worldwide

Jazz pianist Maurice Rocco was a star of American nightclubs and Hollywood films in the 1930s-40s, playing in an ecstatic, stand-up style that left a deep impression on rock 'n' roll. But in the 1950s Rocco fell out of fashion. Hoping to reverse his fortune, he went abroad in 1959. Rocco landed in Bangkok, Thailand, where he lived and played in relative privilege, away from American racism and homophobia, in an elite tier of Vietnam War-era nightlife. His murder in 1976 by two young sex workers was a tragic end to a fascinating American life. Produced by Benjamin Tausig.