 After his purchase, and litigation in the New York State courts, many prosperous African Americans followed, including many jazz artists, such as Count Basie, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, and Milt Hinton.Waller contracted pneumonia and died on December 15, 1943, while traveling aboard the famous cross-country Los Angeles - Chicago train the "Super Chief" near Kansas City, Missouri.His final recording session was with an interracial group in Detroit, Michigan, that included white trumpeter Don Hirleman.