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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IN RECOGNITION OF THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF MRS. BERNICE TODD
______
HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER
of missouri
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, I rise today with profound joy, deep
admiration, and endless blessings to recognize the 100th birthday of
Mrs. Bernice Todd. One cannot tell the story of America without telling
the story of Kansas City Jazz, and one cannot tell the story of Kansas
City Jazz without telling the story of Bernice Todd.
Mrs. Bernice Todd was born September 8, 1920, and has made
significant contributions to the Jazz music and culture of the 18th and
Vine District of Kansas City. She performed with many of the big bands
and Jazz greats of her day, both as a stellar singer and as a skilled
dancer. However, Jazz was not only a career for Mrs. Todd. It was also
a family affair. Her husband, Oliver Todd, was a trumpet player and
bandleader who would go on to become a fixture of the burgeoning Jazz
scene in Kansas City, playing with everyone from Count Basie to Duke
Ellington. And when a certain young virtuoso named Charlie Parker still
carried his makeshift horn in a cloth sack, he would often come over to
the Todds' home to eat lunch and play some music. Mrs. Todd was
actually just one week younger than the Bird, and the three of them
became close friends. Often, Parker would leave his horn in their
living room and ask them to bring it to his performance the next night.
Needless to say, the horn bought them free admission.
Mrs. Todd is a mother, a grandmother, and a friend to many. She has
also been a loyal member of the St. James United Methodist Church,
where I was a pastor for thirty-seven years. From personal experience,
I can attest that Mrs. Todd keeps us all laughing. Mrs. Todd is also a
caretaker of our Jazz history, as well as our Jazz musicians, through
her involvement with the Coda Jazz Fund, which pays funeral and burial
expenses for area Jazz musicians whose families cannot afford them. As
I have said before, a gift is never truly received until you
acknowledge the giver. Mrs. Todd has honored so many determined artists
with that sacred acknowledgement as they enter the coda of their life.
It is an honor to be able to acknowledge Mrs. Todd's legacy while her
chorus is in full swing.
Since I began thinking about this momentous occasion, there's a song
that's been stuck in my head. It is from an old compilation of Jazz
standards released December of 1945, just a little over a year after I
was born. The album sleeve must have weighed ten tons with heft of the
names which graced it: Jay McShann, Nat ``King'' Cole, and of course,
Oliver Todd. The song, by McShann, with Mrs. Todd's late husband on
trumpet, is an instrumental version of an old standard. Nevertheless, I
remember the lyrics well: ``I used to walk in the shade,'' it went,
``With those blues on parade / But I'm not afraid / This rover crossed
over / If I never have a cent / I'd be rich as Rockefeller / Gold dust
at my feet / On the sunny side of the street.''
Now, as we stand not only at Mrs. Todd's centennial, but Charlie
Parker's as well, I cannot help but reflect on our collective good
fortune. We lost the Bird in '55, but God has generously allowed us a
full century of Bernice. For that, I am immensely grateful. Madam
Speaker, please join me, the world of Jazz, and everyone in Missouri's
Fifth Congressional District in wishing Mrs. Bernice Todd a happy 100th
birthday. Here's to many more years, Mrs. Todd, ``on the sunny side of
the street.''
____________________
