September 2020
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The only jazz magazine in NY in print, online and on apps! TheTheTheThe onlyonly Theonly Theonly jazz jazzonly jazz only jazz magazine magazine jazzmagazine jazzmagazine magazine magazine in in in NY NYin NY inNY inin print,NY print, inNYprint, inprint, inonlineprint, onlineonlineprint, online online and online andand and on onandon appsandon appsapps on apps on! apps!! apps! ! ! SSepSettpeeStpmmeSetmepbebmtepbeerterbm e 2re2m b02r0 e2b02r0e20 2r02 02020020 wwwwwwww.wh.w.whwoho.twwohttwho.hhotu.ohohusuotoeshsutejoehasjujoaezasuzjzae.szzczje.a.ozccjza.mooczzmmo.zcm.ocmom Flushing Town Hall at Home Page 2 FlushingFlushingFlushingFlushing Town TownFlushing TownFlushing Hall TownHall Hall at Townat HallHome atHomeTown Home atHall Home Hall at Home at Home PagePagePage 2Page 2 2 Page 2 Page 2 2 CarolCarolCarolCarolCarol SudhalterCarolSudhalter Sudhalter Sudhalter Sudhalter Sudhalter JoeJoeJoe FarnsworthJoe FarnsworthJoe Farnsworth Farnsworth Farnsworth DaveDaveDaveDave PostDave Post Post Post Post Joe Farnsworth Dave Post TavernTavernTavern on GeorgeonTavern GeorgeonTavern George andon Georgeonand Swing Georgeand Swing Swing46and and46 Swing 46 Swing 46 46 PagePage 6Page 6 Page 6 Page 6 6 SmokeSmokeSmoke JazzJazz JazzSmoke & &JazzSmoke SupperSupper & SupperJazz & JazzSupper Club Club& ClubSupper & and andSupperClub and SmallsLive SmallsLive Club and SmallsLive Club SmallsLiveand and SmallsLiveJazz Jazz SmallsLiveJazz Club ClubJazz Club JazzClub Jazz Page PageClub Page Club 4 Page4 4 Page 4Tavern Page 4 4 on George and Swing 46 Page 6 Smoke Jazz & Supper Club and SmallsLive Jazz Club Page 4 Tavern on George and Swing 46 Page 6 WhereWhereWhereWhereWhere To To ToGo ToGo ToGo &Go & Go Who& Who & Who& Who ToWho To ToSee ToSee ToSee SeeSince SeeSince Since Since Since 1982 1982 1982 1982 1982 Where To Go & Who To See Since 1982 CAROL SUDHALTER Back to basics By Elzy Kolb AROL SUDHALTER SPENT APRIL Cand May winning a bout with COVID- 19, and the months since have been a time of introspection for the multi-instrumen- talist. "When time slows down like this, you can look at your patterns and habits. I've discovered there are so many things I Her regular monthly gig, running the could be doing differently, and I see it Louis Armstrong Legacy Jazz Jam, funded without putting myself down, without by the Louis Armstrong Educational judgment, without failure trips," muses Foundation, is still in full swing, though it the saxophonist and flautist. "There's so too went virtual. Rather than gathering at much you can't see till your mind slows Flushing Town Hall, its usual venue, play- down." ers now perform live from home or record A daily diarist since age 8, Carol has tunes and submit them for a Facebook come to recognize that every item on her livestream. to-do lists has had an equal weight, and it's Carol has honed her arranging and tech not a light one. "Each task, from easy to skills, overdubbing all the parts on a four- hard, added a 50-pound weight to my baritone version of a tune Armstrong often shoulders. Even a phone call to someone I sang, "Let My People Go," which pre- enjoy had the same weight," she notes. miered during a virtual jam. "I'd never "Now I'm asking myself if that's really done anything like that before, I'm not in worth 50 pounds. If I can get that weight that age group, so it was a little challeng- off my shoulders and brain, think of how ing," Carol reveals. much I could achieve. It helps to write The theme for the upcoming jam, things down and get to work on them." livestreaming on Facebook on September 9 She's finding satisfaction in switching at 7 p.m., is "September and all its quali- her routines and trying new things. After ties: the season, the joy, the changes, the watching instruction videos online, Carol sad moments, like September 11. Plus, has fired up a sewing machine she bought there are so many jazz tunes with several years back. She's practicing her September in the title." Saxophonist Ray instruments differently, and taking a shot Blue is this month's special guest. at arranging music, something she always With New York slowly finding its way wanted to do but never learned. And in out of pause mode, the veteran musician areas like friendships and forgiveness, the wonders how the events of recent months big picture has come into sharper focus. will impact the music she loves. The collec- "These are things you wouldn't notice at tive trauma of club closings, sheltering in our usual frenetic pace," she points out. place, seclusion and uncertainty, combined A renowned baritone saxophonist, Carol with changes in technology and communi- hasn't come away from the devastating cations, more time spent in the woodshed virus unscathed. Though she has high and in personal reevaluation could make hopes for full recovery, medical tests have itself felt over the long run. The onset of verified a vision change in her left eye, and the pandemic was "so strange and so sud- some fluid accumulation around her heart. den, I went into emergency mode," she "There's a difference in my horn playing, in recalls. "I wasn't thinking of what I'd miss. my breathing," she says. "I have to stop I wasn't thinking of going out or seeing before I'm ready, but I play a little all day friends. It was too strange to comprehend." long with my students. I've noticed a grad- She continues, "Is this going to change ual improvement, but I feel bratty and the face of jazz in some way? Everything want it to go away now." Nevertheless, "I happening in our lives, in our world, is fil- feel like the luckiest person in the world." tering over into jazz. It may change the Maintaining a busy teaching schedule, nature of jazz and bring it to a new phase." via FaceTime and Zoom instead of com- There are a multitude of things Carol muting to students' homes, contributes to would like to see continue after the COVID Carol's sense of well-being. "I never era. "Keeping those 50-pound weights off depended on gigs for a living. That's very my shoulders," tops her list. She'd also like different from so many of my musician to see ongoing social activism and involve- friends. With the pandemic I thought, No ment. "I hope the social justice protests one will want lessons, everyone will be will continue. I hope people will take broke." Not only has that not been the responsibility, form independent organiza- case, some families have actually upped tions to get something done, take things their weekly commitment. continued on page 10 2 Carol Sudhalter cover photo & this page by Gus Philippas, Farnsworth cover photo by Jimmy Katz. 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"They always had suits on," he recalls, "Art would even have a suit on when we traveled on a plane. I got that from them and Wynton really liked that." He continues, "It was a great record too. It was really important for me; I loved the way his rhythmic phrasing on the trumpet was a perfect, natural fit for me and the way I play the ride cymbal. They fit togeth- er really nice." Joe has also played with Wynton in a Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra tribute to Thelonious Monk and in the quintet the trumpeter leads on Edwin Norton's cur- rent film, Motherless Brooklyn (streaming on HBO). So he felt the time was right to invite Wynton to be a guest on his own album. Although Time to Swing opens and clos- es with Joe's originals, he cedes much of HE HARD-BOP REINCARNATION the repertoire choices to his all-star side- Tsextet One for All came together from a men. With Wynton, they reprise gig drummer Joe Farnsworth had in the "Hesitation," an original from his first mid-1990s at Augie's, the club on album, as well as his suggestions "Darn Manhattan's Upper West Side that later That Dream" and "Down by the Riverside." became Smoke Jazz & Supper Club. With Wynton already committed, Joe Originally a quintet with trumpeter Jim knew he needed a pianist "who could real- Rotondi and tenor saxophonist Eric ly take it up to the next level, and of the Alexander, Joe invited trombonist Steve cats who are still here, Kenny Barron is Davis to join. number one." So even though he'd "never "The three horns together was magical," played a note with Kenny," the drummer Joe remembers, "but we needed a piano recruited him for the album. player. I had heard David Hazeltine with "When you get a Kenny Barron," he Brian Lynch and we hired him; he was a asserts, "you want to use every aspect of little bit older but wiser, and he had the Kenny Barron, so why play what I want to arranging abilities we needed." play when what I want to play is what he That band, with a variety of bassists wants to play? He's Kenny Barron and you along the way, has been performing and want him to shine as bright as possible.