DOTTIE DODGION

Dottie Dodgion (born Dorothy Rosalie Giaimo; September 23, 1929 – September 17, 2021) was an American jazz drummer and singer. Dodgion was born on September 23, 1929, 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 jazz guitarist Nick Esposito and bassist Charles Mingus as a teenager. An early marriage to Robert Bennett was annulled. After marrying Monty Budwig in 1952, she began playing drums, but Budwig tried to dissuade her from the instrument; she received encouragement to play from Jerry Dodgion and bassist Eugene Wright, and subsequently divorced Budwig in 1954 to marry Dodgion. Her new husband advised her to choose between singing and drums; she decided to concentrate on the latter. She worked with Carl Fontana in Las Vegas toward the end of the decade and then relocated in 1961 to read more...