Carol Sudhalter

Carol Sudhalter plays flute, baritone and tenor sax. She placed 9th for Best International Jazz Flutist in Down Beat Magazine’s 77th Annual Jazz Readers’ Poll 2012. Carol was the first graduate of Smith College to become a jazz musician. She moved to NYC in 1978 to play with the first all-female Latin band, Latin Fever; with them she performed at the Salsa Festival at Madison Square Garden alongside Tito Puente. She founded, and plays baritone saxophone in, the Astoria Big Band. The band has received many Performance Grants, has played at Mary Lou Williams Festival, Kennedy Center, and features a concert on women composers.

Ms. Sudhalter is written up in several books: 1) Leslie Gourse’s “Madame Jazz” (Oxford, 1995), (‘Carol Sudhalter: A Role Model’). 2) W. Royal Stokes’ “Growing Up With Jazz: Twenty-four Musicians Talk About Their Lives and Careers”, (Oxford). 3) Stefano Benini’s ‘Il Flauto Jazz‘ (‘The Jazz Flute’) (Curci 2011). 4) John Watson‘s outstanding book of jazz photographs, ‘The Power of Jazz” (Blurb, 2008). She regularly tours Europe and has played with such notables as Duffy Jackson, Vito Di Modugno, Rhoda Scott and Jason Marsalis. She teaches 30 private students on piano, sax, flute and clarinet, and tours extensively in Italy, playing and also teaching masterclasses in flute, jazz improv and 'English Diction for Singers'.

Band is available for weddings, parties, jazz clubs, house parties, house concerts and jazz festivals. Some venues we have played at include Swan Club, Explorers' Club, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Port Washington Yacht Club, Golden Lamb Buttery, many more. Jazz Festivals include Birmingham (UK) Jazz, JVC Jazz Fest., Redbank Jazz Festival, Buffalo, NY; Villa Celimentana (Rome), Donne in Musica (Frascati), Swanage Jazz (UK) and more. Big Band: Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, Kennedy Center, Wash., D.C. Jazz Clubs: Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Lincoln Center; Nighttown, Cleveland, Ohio; Birdland, NY; more.

Jazz: Trio of flute/sax, piano or guitar, and upright bass plays the American Songbook, jazz standards, and Latin tunes. Quartet of flute/sax, piano or guitar, upright bass, and drums plays same as above. Quintet (adding trombone), Sextet (adding trombone and trumpet), Septet (Adding vocalist) also available.

Big Band: 10-piece, 13-piece or 16-piece band plays big band arrangements including vocals. Often perform with the Big Apple Lindy Hoppers dancing.