Whether playing on albums for soul singer Donny Hathaway or blowing a worn-out, crumpled horn as a street performer camped outside Symphony Center, the home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Dodd lived for his music, his family said.

In his youth, he was a respected player in the city's jazz scene, traveling the world and praised by critics while matching his tuba with the likes of Hathaway or R&B singer Leroy Hutson. Mr. Dodd began his professional career in 1970, playing tuba for Hathaway's debut album, "Everything Is Everything."

He later became a member of The Pharaohs, a South Side soul funk group with drummer Maurice White, who later went on to form the famous R&B group Earth, Wind and Fire.

Later, after a contentious divorce and a downward spiral that included a battle with alcoholism, Mr. Dodd became a street musician playing for pocket change in downtown Chicago. The one constant in his tumultuous life was his love of performing.

"The music is the way I exist," he told the Tribune in 2008. "I get pleasure from playing, especially at night. People will walk and hold hands. They seem happy. Some people dance, some people sing along. Some people like it enough to give me something. Most people give change. Once in a while they'll give me a dollar or a $5 bill."

The 5-foot-tall musician, who played in a wheelchair, became a Loop fixture — seemingly serenading passing young lovers and commuters.

June 19, 2010|By William Lee, Tribune reporter