Honoring a stateman of KC Jazz

Date: 04/13/04
Column: STEVE PENN
Credit: The Kansas City Star
Byline: STEVE PENN

The time has come to mark the final resting place of Everett Alvin Dodd.

Dodd isn't a household name in the jazz world. Yet he was known around town as a fine jazz drummer.

And when it came to the Mutual Musicians Foundation, Dodd would do anything to keep the doors open and the lights on. He was there for the foundation.

Now another foundation, known as the Coda Jazz Foundation, will be there for Dodd.

As a jazz drummer, Dodd traveled with many bands during the early part of his career. From 1991 to 1997 he was vice president of the Mutual Musicians Foundation.

His career included two cameo motion picture appearances, in "Bucktown" in 1975 and "The Last of the Blue Devils" in 1976.

Dodd was inducted into the Elder Statesmen of Kansas City Jazz in November 1999. That event turned out to be his farewell.

Afterward, Dodd battled pneumonia, lapsed into a coma for two weeks and died a month later, on Christmas Eve.
His family was able to pay for his burial in Forest Hill Cemetery. But his grave has gone unmarked.

"I have a piece of paper that shows me where his grave is at, and I know just about where it is," said his widow, Shirley Dodd.

Now she will know for certain. The Coda Jazz Fund plans to permanently mark his grave soon. The fund covers the burial, funeral or cremation cost for lifetime jazz musicians whose families are unable to pay.

Shirley Dodd told me that her late husband's death so soon after he received his induction into the Elder Statesmen was not a coincidence.

"The way I looked at it, that award was what he was waiting for," she said. "Being inducted into the Elder Statesmen was something he always talked about. It was something he wanted. After that, it seemed like he really just gave up. He was satisfied."

Dodd was born in 1938 in Springfield, and his family moved to Kansas City when he was 4. He attended R.T. Coles High School, where he learned to play drums. Before he finished school, Dodd started performing with bands.

Dodd eventually concentrated on performing in Kansas City. He played a few gigs with notables such as pianist Jay McShann and Claude "Fiddler" Williams.

Don Cox, who is on the board of the Mutual Musicians Foundation, remembers Dodd as a sharp dresser and a dedicated foundation member.

An aching back the last 10 years of his life left Dodd's musical career at a standstill.

"He couldn't carry those drums like he used to," said Shirley Dodd. "The last 10 years, he really wasn't playing too much anywhere."

At the time of his death, Dodd's only income was a Social Security disability check of about $500 a month, not nearly enough for a grave marker.

Brookings Cemetery donated the marker to the jazz fund, which will place it on Dodd's grave. An event marking its placement is being planned.

"I've been trying to get enough money to do it," Shirley Dodd said of a grave marker. "It doesn't look like I'm getting there very fast. Now I'm retired from nursing. But I always keep it on my mind."

To reach Steve Penn, call (816) 234-4417 or send e-mail to spenn@kcstar.com.

First glance
The third annual Coda Jazz Fund Benefit Concert will be May 15. The public can help by supporting the event or sending contributions to the Coda Jazz Fund, P.O. Box 412116, Kansas City, MO 64141-2116.