04/19/02

Jazz lovers pay tribute to musicians
By Steve Penn, The Kansas City Star

hey come in all amounts. Some are two figures. A few are three-figure amounts.

The Coda  Jazz  Fund  is less than a week old, but people really grasp the meaning behind it. And they are responding.

The Coda  Jazz  Fund  was recently established by The Kansas City Star to ensure that all local career jazz  musicians are given a dignified funeral and burial.

The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation will collect and manage the contributions. An advisory group from the jazz  community will evaluate requests for funding  assistance.

In four days, $535 has been raised. Additional contributions come in each day. They come from just regular people appreciative of the rich jazz  heritage they've enjoyed.

Maxine Korte of Blue Springs loves listening to the late guitarist Sonny Kenner.

Korte was one of the first people to contribute to the Coda  Jazz Fund . She read my column on Sunday, then sent a check for $20.

"I just feel like jazz  musicians give so much to this community," Korte said. "When I saw your column, I had to do something. I just hope that others respond."

They are.

A woman in Overland Park sent a check for $100 with a note attached.

"This is not just a Kansas City scandal, it's a national scandal," she wrote. "Bless you for what you are doing."

She and those donating are really the ones doing it.

The largest contribution so far is a $200 check from a man in Paola, Kan.

Also, e-mails and voice messages of support are rolling in.

"I was moved by your article in the Sunday Star about our jazz musicians and the Coda  Jazz  Fund ," another woman wrote to me. "I would like to help with the benefit or in any other way that would contribute to the success of the cause."

Last Sunday, the Coda  Jazz  Fund  placed a marker at the grave of David Daahoud Williams, a bass player who died in 1998. His grave had never been marked.

The grave marker was a donation by the operators of Brooking Cemetery, a company that also makes grave markers. Williams' marker would normally retail for $300.

Russell Pence Jr., a manager at Brooking Cemetery, explained the motive behind the marker.

"To me, it's just the right thing to do," Pence said.

Pence called the next day. He had one more thing to add.

His company now wants to donate every grave marker needed for those the Coda  Jazz  Fund  will assist.

Carrie Stapleton, who owns and operates Phillips-West Public Relations and Communications, is donating her time and expertise to the project. She is handling media inquiries and writing press releases.

"I'm impressed with the fact that The Star is doing this," Stapleton said. "It's good for media to get behind efforts that are important to a community."

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

A coda  sign in music tells a musician to go to the end of the song.

When people want to help jazz  musicians at the end of their lives, the one way to help is to go to the Coda  Jazz  Fund .

Tickets are available at Ticketmaster and at the Gem Theater, 1615 E. 18th St. To donate, make checks payable to the Coda  Jazz  Fund and mail to:

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

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE KANSAS CITY STAR