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Baby Dodds Headstone Fund Established

by Paige VanVorst

Pioneer New Orleans jazz drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds has been resting in an unmarked grave in Chicago's South Side suburbs for forty five years. Dodds (1894-1959) was the pulse of the King Oliver's legendary Creole Jazz Band and recorded with most of the great musicians of the 1920s. He was a member of Louis Armstrong's Hot Seven and Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers and worked extensively with his brother Johnny Dodds, one of the first great jazz clarinetist.

Dodds' wife died three years before he did, he never had any children and was unable to work for the last six years of his life, which dissipated his meager savings. He is buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island IL, a historically-black burial ground where other early jazz greats are interred, including trumpet king Freddie Keppard, trombonist Preston Jackson and Dodds' brother Johnny.

A group of his fans have banded together to provide Baby with a long-overdue memorial. Funds are being collected via JazzBeat Magazine, a quarterly publication devoted to New Orleans jazz and swing. The cost of a simple headstone isn't that much and all contributors will be acknowledged in JazzBeat. We'd like to see as many drummers as possible contribute as Baby was one of the early theorists of the instrument.

Contributions can be sent to:
Baby Dodds Headstone Fund
c/o JazzBeat Magazine
1206 Decatur St
New Orleans LA 70116

Baby Dodds was born in New Orleans and grew up there and on a family farm in Waverly MS. He began pounding on a tin can with the rounds from his mother's kitchen chair and as soon as he had a job he bought his drum kit piece by piece. He worked in Fate Marable's legendary riverboat band in the late teens. During this period developed his technique to the point where the owners of the boat sent Walter Brundy, drummer on one of their other boats, to see Baby, as that was the kind of drummer they wanted. Brundy, who had taught Dodds, was so disgusted at being pass up by his student that he quit music. Baby was good enough that William Ludwig came on board the boat in 1919 to measure Baby's foot while he was designing the sock cymbal, and he had Baby try several prototypes until he had something workable.

Dodds was in Chicago through most of the 1920s and the young drummers of that era (Gene Krupa, Dave Tough, George Wettling and many others) fl ocked to hear Baby with King Oliver's band at the Lincoln Gardens, and later with Johnny Dodds' band at Kelly's Stables, a popular near-north side speakeasy. Dodds was underrecorded during that time (as were all other drummers) but his inventive playing comes through very clearly on his trio sides with Jelly Roll Morton.

Dodds became popular during the 1940s revival of New Orleans jazz. He recorded in New Orleans with trumpeter Bunk Johnson and later appeared with Johnson's band in New York's Styvesant Casino. While in New York he was in demand for recording sessions and made a series of celebrated broadcasts with the All-Star Stompers (which included Wild Bill Davison, Sidney Bechet, Albert Nicholas, Muggsy Spanier and James P. Johnson, among others) over the Mutual Radio Network.

He returned to Chicago in the early 1950s and was felled by a series of strokes beginning about 1951. He fi nally retired from playing but spent his downtime productively, dictating his memoirs which resulted in a wonderful book, The Baby Dodds Story, an essential reference on New Orleans jazz.

Baby Dodds was one of those rare musicians who was able to function simultaneously as a great artist and a great showman. He was a tremendous crowd pleaser but he was at the same time a very serious musician who knew exactly what he was doing at all times. It's high time his fi nal resting place is identifi ed with a simple memorial. All contributions will be welcomed, and if we collect more than is required, the excess funds will be used in Dodds' memory.