How a pioneering jazz musician and teacher spends her Sundays
Although Carol Sudhalter’s first love was the flute, she was seduced by the saxophone early in her career as a jazz musician.
“Playing different instruments helps me expand my emotional palette,” she said. “The saxophone has the opposite personality of the flute, which tends to be politely small, and I can express a wide range of emotions with it: it can be gruff, aggressive and gentle.”
In the early days of her career in the late 1970s, Ms. Sudhalter attracted a lot of attention because female players were rare.
“Female saxophonists like Camille Thurman and Lakecia Benjamin are superstars now,” Ms. Sudhalter, 81, said. “It is a point of pride and joy for me that the virtuosity and recognition of female players has increased so much since then.”
Ms. Sudhalter, who grew up in a musical family in Boston and graduated from Smith College, got her big break in 1978 when she moved to New York City to join Latin Fever, the first all-female Latin band. She founded the 18-member Astoria Big Band and has been a music teacher for more than four decades. She gives private sax, flute and piano lessons to 20 students each week on Long Island.
She has lived in the same two-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens since 1980. Ms. Sudhalter used to have roommates, but today she shares the space with six saxophones, three clarinets, three flutes, a piccolo, a bass clarinet and a flugelhorn.
CREATURE OF HABIT I get up between 7 and 8 am, the same time as every day. I set an alarm, but I wake up before it goes off. And I always have the same breakfast: muesli without sugar and yogurt, a lot of vitamins and a cup of black coffee.
I also do the culinary preparation for the week. As a door-to-door music teacher, I pack lunch at least four times a week. I make a big pot of soup, usually vegetables or beans, sauces like pesto, mayonnaise and horseradish, and other dips like hummus and tzatziki to brighten up the dishes. I also bake a batch of lemon cookies with almond flour sweetened with monk fruit, or I make banana bread.
PLAY FORWARD Classes start at noon. Although some classes are virtual, students benefit more from an in-person meeting from January through March when they are studying for state music exams, so I’m usually in the car by 11 a.m. and usually home by 4 p.m. I really enjoy seeing how my students are making progress. It is one of the highlights of my career, exactly the same as when I was invited to Indiana two years ago to play the premiere of the ‘Spiritual Collage: A Suite for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra’ by jazz great Mickey Tucker, which was the sensation of a lifetime.
A twelve-year-old piano student I’ve been teaching since he was six is studying Rachmaninoff and zooming through a Beethoven piece. He has progressed so much that I recently sent him to another teacher. And I’ve been teaching Ryan Richter tenor and alto sax since he was ten. He’s in high school now and he’s digging through school jazz band music and Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins.
BREAKING RHYTHM When classes are canceled, I like to go to North Square on Washington Square for the jazz brunch. For $20 I get a tasty meal – I usually order salad or smoked salmon – and an even better 90 minutes of music. Château le Woof, a coffee shop, is around the corner from my apartment, so I go outside for the jazz brunch. I’ve had performances there. The players, a duo or trio, are incredibly technical and beautiful, and people bring their dogs.
The ferry is in my backyard. You can go to East 90th Street or walk all the way to Wall Street. For me it’s more about the ride: it’s meditative and soothing.
My treat is going to Manhattan to see the special guests’ performances at the New York Flute Club. The concerts are once a month and the players are excellent.
PERFORM I lead the Louis Armstrong Legacy Monthly Jazz Jam and the Astoria Big Band at Flushing Town Hall, so I’m rehearsing after student classes are over.
Will it be tenor sax, alto sax, baritone, flute, clarinet, piano or singing? It’s so wonderful to have a choice. I play them alternately. The most important thing is to do it when energy is highest, which for me is mid-afternoon. I’ve had Covid three times, so I give myself long breaks so I don’t strain my muscles.
I choose and practice one tune related to Louis Armstrong. The other tune will be related to the season or current events in some way. I choose the instrument based on the feeling of the melody as I understand it. I’m on the top floor of a two-family house and I don’t have to worry about making noise because I’ve lived there for a long time and my landlady likes the music.
HOOK UP At six o’clock I sit in front of the TV and watch “PBS NewsHour.” This is non-negotiable unless I am performing or attending a concert. I think it has the best news because it’s not sensational, it gives a broad spectrum of what’s happening and there are no commercials. Dinner is a snack, usually boiled vegetables or a small portion of fish or a few shrimps.
CLASSIC LOOKS Around seven o’clock I relax by watching some mindless TV. I love detective series and old, nostalgic shows. Maybe I’ll come across ‘Monk’, ‘Columbo’ or ‘Lawrence Welk’. For me, the adventure is surfing and seeing what I can find.
I’m in bed at 8:30 or 9:30. I might wake up in the middle of the night, but I don’t mind. I enjoy reading. ‘Better Living Through Birding’ by Christian Cooper, ‘The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life’ by David Brooks and ‘The Eight Mountains’ by Paolo Cognetti are the parts that are currently getting me through the night.