Dottie Dodgion

Dottie Dodgion (born Dorothy Rosalie Giaimo; September 23, 1929) is an American jazz drummer and singer. Dodgion was born in Brea, California. As a child, Giaimo sang in the band led by her father, a drummer. She grew up in the Bay Area and sang with Charles Mingus as a teenager, then married Monty Budwig. She began playing drums while married to Budwig in the 1950s, but Budwig tried to dissuade her from the instrument; she received encouragement to play from Jerry Dodgion, and subsequently divorced Budwig to marry Dodgion. She worked with Carl Fontana in Las Vegas toward the end of the decade and then relocated to New York City in 1961. There she played in Benny Goodman's ensemble for about one week, then moved on to work with Marian McPartland and Eddie Gomez, Billy Mitchell and Al Grey, Wild Bill Davison, and Al Cohn and Zoot Sims over the course of the 1960s. In the early 1970s she worked with Ruby Braff and Joe Venuti, then played alongside her husband in Germany with Walter Norris and George Mraz. Dottie and Jerry Dodgion separated later in the 1970s, and Dottie moved to Washington, D.C. for a time, where she was musical director of the club The Rogue and Jar. After moving back to New York City she worked in the 1980s with Melba Liston, George Wein, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker, Frank Wess, Jimmie Rowles, Carol Sloane, Pepper Adams, Tommy Flanagan, Roland Hanna, Sal Nistico, Herb Ellis, Chris White, Bob Cranshaw, Joe Newman, and Harold Danko. After returning to the Bay Area in 1984 she played regularly at the Monterey Jazz Festival.