Carol Sudhalter is a jazz musician, producer, teacher, and producer. She plays baritone, tenor, and flute. In Down Beat Magazine’s 2012 Jazz Readers Poll, she was ranked 9th for International Jazz Flutist. Carol was the first Smith College graduate to be a jazz musician. Along with Tito Puente, she played in the first all-female Latin group, Latin Fever at the Salsa Festival at Madison Square Garden. She founded the 16-piece Astoria Big Band in 1986. Here, she plays baritone and saxophone. The band has been awarded many performance grants and has performed at Mary Lou Williams Festival, Kennedy Center, as well as a concert about women composers. Carol has toured Europe with many notables such as Duffy Jackson and Vito Di Modugno. She has performed at Birdland and Iridium in New York, as well as JVC Jazz Festival, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola (Lincoln Center), Flushing Town Hall and Birdland. She was a pioneer in jazz production in Queens. She has been honored with special honors, including a citation from La Guardia College Performing Arts Center, for outstanding contributions to Queens Jazz Community (2002), and the Reverend John Garcia Gensel award in 2003, from Manhattan Country School for her distinguished service to jazz. Over 30 years she taught piano, flute, and saxophone lessons, including ten years with the New York Pops’ “Salute to Music” Program. Carol is fluent in Italian and travels to Italy every year as both a teacher and performer. You can hear her Quartet, Sextet, and Astoria Jazz Band performing on several Carolina Records albums, including the band’s latest CD, Last Train To Astoria. from www.flushingtownhall.org
