n a windswept hillside in a cemetery where almost as many graves are unmarked as marked, Kansas City took another step Sunday toward honoring its jazz  heritage.

Flanked by some of the city's best-known jazz  musicians, representatives of The Kansas City Star and local community organizations formally announced a new fund  to help pay the funeral expenses of impoverished jazz  musicians.

During a news conference at Lincoln Cemetery, former Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver said the city has been "long, long overdue" in helping jazz  musicians.

"Many of the jazz  figures of Kansas City actually helped put Kansas City on the map," Cleaver said. "And one of the great tragedies is that after Kansas City was placed on the map as a prime spot for jazz , our appreciation for those jazz  musicians declined."

Cleaver said the fund  will add to the city's other efforts to honor its jazz  heritage, including the American Jazz  Museum.

"This will send a signal to musicians around the world that this is a reminder of what Kansas City was, is and will be to jazz ," Cleaver said. "And that is the leader."

Community leaders this year are trying to raise money for the Coda  Jazz  Fund . The money will be administered by an advisory board from the jazz  community and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.

While kicking off the fund  Sunday afternoon, a group of civic leaders and musicians also placed a marker on the grave of jazz  bassist David Daahoud Williams. He died of cancer in 1998, but his family didn't have the finances to pay for a marker.

That's not uncommon for musicians, said Ahmad Alaadeen, who's been playing the saxophone in Kansas City for more than 50 years. Alaadeen glanced at the graves of some of those he worked with.

"Jazz  musicians can't get credit, they don't get insurance on the job, they don't have life or death benefits," Alaadeen said. "By the nature of the work, we don't think about death a lot. But it's sort of hazardous duty with odd hours, smoky rooms, missing meals."

By helping musicians, "Kansas City is trying to get its beat back," Alaadeen said.

The fund  was started after Steve Penn, a columnist for The Star, approached the newspaper after learning of the problems facing the families of some jazz  musicians.

"Coda  is the musical term that denotes the end of a song," Penn said. "Like in music, the Coda  Jazz  Fund  has been established to assist the jazz  musician at the end of his life, if needed. This will be like a safety net."

Mark Zieman, editor and vice president of The Star, said the fund  is a community solution to the problem.

"Jazz  music has brought Kansas City to the world and the world to Kansas City," Zieman said. "And we're here today to say 'thank you' to all those musicians whose journey individually has come to an end."

Kansas City jazz  musicians Alaadeen, Gerald Dunn, Eddie Saunders and Horace Washington played two songs at the news conference, and at Williams' gravesite as the marker was placed. The impromptu performance included Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time."

Musicians said the fund  will assist the local jazz  community.

"I wish it wasn't, but it's sorely needed," Washington said. "I'd rather have my flowers now, when I'm alive, but better late than never."

Dunn, at 35 one of the younger musicians attending, said the fund will be seen as a good sign by those musicians who have watched friends die without enough money for a formal burial.

"It's been sad to see them go, it's even more sad to realize they did not have insurance," Dunn said. "This is a signal to musicians letting them know that the city is backing them."

The fund  is holding its first fund -raiser on May 17, a benefit concert featuring singers Kevin Mahogany and Ida McBeth, saxophonist Bobby Watson, Claude "Fiddler" Williams and the Jazz  Sextet Plus-1. Ticket prices range from $50 to $100 and go on sale Thursday at
Ticketmaster and the Gem Theater, 1615 E. 18th St.

The concert is being underwritten by Sprint Corp. Other corporate sponsors will be named soon, Cleaver said.

Community leaders said "dozens and dozens" of musicians could potentially be helped by the fund .

"Kansas City has always been a hotbed for jazz ," Cleaver said. "We probably have more living legends in jazz than any other city."

To reach David Hayes, call (816) 234-4904 or send e-mail to dhayes@kcstar.com.

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