Big Band Plays Armstrong & Gillespie
Astoria-based saxophonist and flautist Carol Sudhalter, founder and director of the Astoria Big Band, has been awarded grants to produce a concert tribute to three jazz legends from her home borough of Queens.
“A Tribute to Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Big Nick Nicholas” will take place at Sunnyside Reformed Church on Saturday, May 11 at 7 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public.
The vocalist for the concert will be the legendary Frank Senior. Blind from birth, this deep-voiced and versatile vocalist has sung around the world. Senior has been featured on PBS, and is known for his unique “Dialog in the Dark” tours, which let sighted people experience what it is like to be blind in New York City, from Times Square to South Street Seaport. Senior lived for 20 years in eastern Queens.
Last year Sudhalter produced two big band concerts and a series of four jazz Sextet concerts, each featuring an “Octogenarian of Jazz,” among them the eclectic, world-famous composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram, known for his collaborations with poet Jack Kerouac.
Sudhalter won ninth place in the Best International Jazz Flutist category in Down Beat magazine’s 77th annual Jazz Readers’ Poll in 2012.
Sudhalter founded the 16-piece Astoria Big Band in 1986. The band has played at local street fairs, fundraisers, the Forest Park Carousel and more, and has featured local greats such as saxophonist Big Nick Nicholas, bassist Leonard Gaskin, arranger/trumpeter Charlie Camilleri, composers Julie Mandel, Sarah McLawler and Emme Kemp The band played at Kennedy Center, Wash., D.C. in the 2004 Mary Lou Williams Festival.
This event is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
For more information, visit www.sudhalter.com.
