Aaron Dodd

Aaron Dodd (12 February 1948 — 18 June 2010) was an American tuba player and jazz musician.

Dodd was born on February 12, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois. He learned to play the tuba in his high school (Wendell Phillips High School) band.

Dodd began his professional career in 1970, playing tuba for Donny Hathaway's debut album, "Everything Is Everything." 

Dodd then became a member of The Pharaohs, a South Side soul-funk group with Charles Handy (trumpet), Louis Satterfield (trombone), Don Myrick (alto saxophone), Big Willie Woods (trombone), Oye Bisi, and Shango Njoko Adefumi (African drums), Yehudah Ben Israel (guitar and vocals), Maurice White (trap drums), Alious Watkins on (trap drums), and Derf Reklaw-Raheem (percussion and flute). Dodd performed on two of The Pharaohs' albums — "Awakening" (1971) and "In the Basement" (1972.) The group disbanded in 1973.

Around that time, Dodd collaborated with R&B singer LeRoy Hutson on the albums "Love Oh Love" (1973) and "Hutson" (1975). Over the years, he also performed with trumpeters Malachi Thompson and Phil Cohran.

In 1985, Aaron joined Edward Wilkerson Jr.(woodwinds), Mwata Bowden (woodwinds), Robert Griffin (trumpet), Isaiah Jackson (trombone), Naomi Millender (cello), Harrison Bankhead (bass), and Dushun Mosley (drums). They became known as 8 Bold Souls and released four albums: "8 Bold Souls" (1987), "Sideshow" (1992), "Ant Farm" (1994), and "Last Option" (1999). In 1995, 8 Bold Souls and in particular Dodd were named in DownBeat Magazine's critic's poll for "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition."

Dodd also worked in classical music and was a street musician on Michigan Avenue for many years. In 1999, several Chicago Symphony Orchestra brass musicians who had become fans of Dodd's gave him a new tuba to replace his old one. When two valves of that instrument were stolen, symphony tubist Gene Pokorny had them replaced.

In his later years, Dodd was dependent on a wheelchair due to illness. He died on June 18, 2010, at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois. He was 62.