any of Kansas City's jazz  entertainers, including some who played to standing-room-only crowds, died penniless. The crowds that cheered them in their heyday at jam sessions and ballrooms are absent when the going gets tough in their senior years.

When local jazz  musicians are stricken with life-threatening illnesses, their relatives and friends have to pass the hat to get them good medical care and a decent burial.

Small funds  devoted to this cause exist throughout Kansas City. But they are often formed on an impromptu basis, for one ailing musician at a time. Some smaller funds  just don't have the community support they deserve.

But things are about to change, thanks to the Coda  Jazz  Fund . It will be devoted exclusively to taking care of the end-of-life needs of qualifying members of Kansas City's jazz  community.

No longer will jazz  artists have to depend solely on others in the jazz  community, some of whom are no better off themselves. The Coda  Fund  will be no mere passing of the hat. It will be an established fund  through which jazz  artists can receive decent burials.

The fund  is the inspiration of Star columnist Steve Penn. Through his columns and the backing of this newspaper, Penn helped promote this critical need.

The Coda  Fund  will be managed by the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. Tickets go on sale today for a benefit concert May 17 at the Gem Theater. Sprint Corp. agreed to underwrite the concert, which has scheduled Claude "Fiddler" Williams, Kevin Mahogony, Bobby Watson, Ida McBeth and others.

After the embarrassing demise of the annual Kansas City Blues & Jazz  Festival, this benefit concert could be the best ticket in town for jazz  fans.

The inside joke among elder jazz  musicians in Kansas City is that they're all dying of boredom because the talent is there but the crowds are not. That has to change, starting with the Coda  concert and building from there.

Kansas City should be known not only as a place of great jazz  history but a place where jazz  history continues to be made.

Ticket information
Tickets for the May 17 benefit concert are available at the Gem Theater, 1615 E. 18th St., or by calling Ticketmaster, (816) 931-3330.

Contributions may be sent to Coda  Jazz  Fund , P.O. Box 412116, Kansas City, MO 64141-2116


 

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE KANSAS CITY STAR