04/14/02

Even after music ends, jazz greats need a hand
By Steve Penn, The Kansas City Star

        

Like many fans, I loved the smooth way he strummed his Fender guitar, picking chords with ease and precision up and down the fretboard.

Last year, I'm sad to say, he died of cancer. I'm also sad to say that although he had played jazz  guitar for much of his life, he died without much money.

A few days after he died, I saw his daughter at a local nightclub selling Kenner's compact disc, "Peace, Love and Happiness." She needed money to pay for her father's funeral and burial.

The scene broke my heart. No one - not relatives, not friends - should have to struggle financially to bury a career jazz  musician. That certainly should be true in this town, home to some of the most brilliant jazz  figures of all time. Why, I wondered, doesn't someone start a fund  to help?

Last month I asked my bosses whether the newspaper would. They said yes. So today The Kansas City Star announces the Coda  Jazz  Fund .

"Historically, some of the greatest jazz  musicians in the world have come from Kansas City, and they still do," said Mark Zieman, Star editor and vice president.

"Our community has struggled to support these artists financially while they are living. But with the Coda  Jazz  Fund , Steve has found a way to support them with dignity when they die. It's a way to say thank you."

Although The Star helped organize the fund  and will report on its progress, it will not otherwise be involved in its long-term management. The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, with an advisory group from the jazz  community, will collect and manage contributions.

The project's initial fund-raiser will be a benefit concert May 17 featuring singers Kevin Mahogany and Ida McBeth, saxophonist Bobby Watson, Claude "Fiddler" Williams and the Jazz  Sextet Plus-1.

You can buy tickets for $100, $75 or $50 through Ticketmaster and at the Gem Theater, 1615 E. 18th St., starting Thursday.

When it comes to older jazz  musicians, Kansas City has plenty of good will.

The fund  can channel it.

And it is already off to a promising start.

Sprint Corp. has agreed to be a concert underwriter. Former Mayor Emanuel Cleaver has volunteered his time and energy. And numerous musicians, their families and groups that support them have been meeting weekly to set up the fund  and put together the concert.

Besides Cleaver, those working on the fund  and concert include Juanita Moore, interim director of the Jazz  Museum; Gerald Dunn, producer of the entertainment at the Blue Room; Rowena Stewart, executive director of the 18th and Vine Authority; Lisa Shepard, client accounts executive with the community foundation; Mike Metheny, editor of Jam magazine and brother of Grammy-winning
guitarist Pat Metheny; saxophonist Ahmad Alaadeen; and Pam Hider Johnson of the Elder Statesmen of Jazz , a jazz  interest group.

A board composed of representatives from the local jazz  community and the community foundation will oversee the fund . Needy jazz  musicians' families can apply to the board for help.

Recently I went to Lincoln Cemetery on a sad visit to the grave of a premier jazz  bassist, David Daahoud Williams.

He died of cancer in November 1998.

During the last days of his illness, local jazz  supporters chipped in to pay for his stay at a nursing home. When he died, I covered his funeral - and his fellow musicians played a solemn jazz  session.

But no one had the money for a gravestone, and to this day, the burial vault below Lot 345, Grave 9 - Williams' last resting place - remains unmarked.

He deserved better. He was a quality musician and a quality person.

Shortly before he died, he continued contributing to jazz  by giving his upright bass to a younger musician.

Another jazz  great, bandleader Eddie Baker, died last December without enough money to cover his final expenses.

His nephew, Greg Baker, said musicians such as his uncle made very little during their careers and often did not plan for funeral expenses.

"Eddie died without any money," Baker said. "By the time many of these musicians reach their later years, they are penniless. If society is going to enjoy them, then we need to do something for them."

Baker said his uncle wouldn't be the last local jazz  musician to die without insurance or burial funds .

Alaadeen, 67, said the Coda  Jazz  Fund  was right on time.

"I'm happy to hear about this," Alaadeen said. "This is something that's needed. A jazz  musician can play his whole life but still can't get credit. Many career jazz  musicians don't have insurance."

In her work for the Elder Statesmen of Jazz , Hider Johnson has met many older musicians living on fixed incomes.

"Older jazz  musicians are an unprotected class of society," she said. "If you're an older musician and you don't have a spouse or have a full-time job, then you probably aren't protected."

A news conference about the Coda  Jazz  Fund  will be at 2 p.m. today at Williams' grave site in Lincoln Cemetery, which is in Blue Summit near Truman Road and Interstate 435.

We must remember that while they're alive, jazz  artists delight us with their creativity. In return, we applaud, shake their hands and give them a part of the cover charge. Maybe we buy their compact discs.

That's not good enough.

Of course, we can't stop our jazz  musicians from dying. But we can make sure that when they do, their loved ones and friends have the money to give them a proper farewell.

I encourage you to give freely to the Coda  Jazz  Fund . Let me again make it clear that the fund  will be professionally managed and regulated. Moreover, the contributions will pay for funerals of jazz  musicians, not salaries or overhead.

In the end, it is a gesture that will lend honor and dignity to jazz  musicians' final sets. And it will be heard long after the last applause, curtain calls and standing ovations are over.

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

How to help
To donate to the Coda  Jazz  Fund , make checks payable to the fund  and mail to:

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE KANSAS CITY STAR