Richard M. Sudhalter

A Biographical Sketch

by Albert Haim

Richard Sudhalter, September 2003

Benefit Concert, St. Peter's Lutheran Church, New York City

(sitting, Carol Sudhalter)
 

I am certain that all jazz fans know about the crucial role that Richard Sudhalter has played in the fields of Jazzology and Bixology. Richard is a multi-talented individual: author, musician, historian, researcher, teacher, critic, etc. Richard's achievements are too numerous to list in detail here: scholarly articles in magazines and newspapers, chapters in books, liners for records and CDs, concert organizer, radio broadcaster, Grammy Award winner, excellent trumpeter and band leader who has numerous recordings to his credit.

Richard Merrill Sudhalter was born on December 28, 1938 in Boston, MA in a musical family. Richard’s father, Albert, was an alto saxophonist who played in the 1920s and 1930s. His sister Carol plays flute and saxophones. Richard grew up in Newton, MA and began to take cornet lessons in 1950 after hearing Paul Whiteman’s January 12, 1928 recording of “San” where Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke plays a 32-bar chorus with trumpeter Charlie Margulis and clarinettist Jimmy Dorsey. In a 1999 interview Richard was asked,  “Do you recall the first time you were attracted to music?” Richard’s response, “ Yes, with absolute clarity, though it was nearly half a century ago. I was twelve, and had flogged away at the piano for nearly five years without discernible result, when one day I found a Bix Beiderbecke record ("San," with Paul Whiteman's orchestra) in my father's record cabinet. He was an alto saxophonist, equally adept at "legit" and "hot" styles, and among his idols no one ranked higher than Bix and his saxophone-playing partner, Frank Trumbauer. The ringing, sweet-hot sound of Bix's cornet on that record electrified me; animated and astonished me. I couldn't wait for my dad to get home so I could ask him: "Who is Bix Beiderbecke?" From that day on I was hooked on Beiderbecke in particular, hot jazz in general.”

In the 1950s, the teenage Richard sat in at George Wein's Boston club Storyville with such legendary jazz figures as Bud Freeman, Pee Wee Russell, and Vic Dickenson. He also met Bobby Hackett and Phil Napoleon through his father’s musical contacts.

Richard attended Oberlin College from 1956 to 1960 and studied Music and English Literature. During his college years, Richard studied trumpet with Louis Davidson of the Cleveland Orchestra and played with college and local jazz groups. After graduation, he had a summer engagement playing in Cape Cod, and then left for Europe.

Richard lived in Salzburg, Austria, and in Munich, Germany in the 1960s. He taught English, played with jazz bands, and worked at Bavarian State Radio as a charter member of the Bavarian Radio Jazz Ensemble. In 1964, Richard joined United Press International and stayed with them until 1971. He was political correspondent from West and East Germany, in 1964-66, staff correspondent from the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in 1966-68, and bureau manager for Yugoslavia and the Balkans 1968-1971. In spite of the heavy responsibility, Richard continued working as a jazz musician, recording, playing, and writing about jazz.

While in England, Richard wrote numerous articles for jazz publications – Jazz Journal, Storyville, Into Jazz, Crescendo- under the pseudonym of Art Napoleon.  In 1968, Richard was in London and heard the news that the Soviet Union was about to invade Czechoslovakia. He flew to Germany, rented a car, and drove to Prague. He was the only western journalist when the Soviet troops invaded and his reports were front-page material.

In 1973, Richard began his collaboration with Philip R. Evans on a biography of Davenport’s musician Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke. The book, “Bix, Man and Legend” was published by Arlington Press in 1974. It represents a milestone in the field of jazz biographies and was nominated for a National Book Award.

In 1974, Richard founded the New Paul Whiteman Orchestra. He used original arrangements from the Whiteman collection in Williams College. Richard was the leader and performed his own interpretations of Bix Beiderbecke’s solos in live concerts, radio broadcasts over the BBC, in a BBC-TV documentary, and on records. One of the members of the orchestra was John R. T. Davies, the legendary expert on repairing, transferring, and remastering recordings from 78 rpm discs.

Back in the US in1975, Richard was contacted by Bob Wilber with an invitation to participate with the New York Jazz Repertory Company in a Carnegie Hall Concert in honor of Bix Beiderbecke.  Richard wrote the script, narrated it, and played several numbers with the orchestra. Under the auspices of the New York Jazz Repertory Company, Richard produced a four-concert Duke Ellington retrospective which was presented at the 1976 Newport New York Jazz Festival in Carnegie Hall.

Richard was very active in the New York jazz scene, playing and writing. From 1978 to 1985, he was jazz critic for The New York Post. From 1984 to 1991 he was Artistic Director at New York's Vineyard Theatre where he produced concerts, “Vintage Jazz at the Vineyard.” Some of these were edited and broadcast on National Public Radio. From 1983 to 1987, Richard was a member of the Classic Jazz Quartet with Dick Wellstood, Marty Grosz, and Joe Muranyi.

Richard was a producer/performer at numerous Carmichael events: The Stardust Road, Carnegie Hall, 1979; Hoagy, Bix and Wolfgang Beethoven Bunkhaus, Los Angeles, 1981; cabaret shows Hoagy's Children and Hoagy on My Mind, 1981; and Along the Stardust Road, Germany, 1999.

Richard was a soloist in the soundtrack of several films –Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose, and The Shooting Party. He has been a guest lecturer at Brown University, Oberlin College, and the 92nd Street "Y" in New York. In 2001 Richard was appointed Director of Jazz Studies and Associate Professor of Music at Five Towns College, Dix Hills, NY.

As an author of books, Richard has published three seminal and highly influential works. Each of his books has been honored by highly prestigious Awards/Nominations.

The following is a list of some of his recordings.

As Leader:

Sudhalter and Son, I & II, 77 Records.

Sweet and Hot--Anglo-American Alliance, EMI.

The New Paul Whiteman Orchestra, Evergreen.

Melodies Heard, Melodies Sweet: Dick Sudhalter Toasts the Songwriter-Jazzmen, Challenge.

Daryl Sherman and Dick Sudhalter, 1984.

After Awhile: Dick Sudhalter and His London Friends, Challenge.

Dick Sudhalter and His "Friends with Pleasure," Audiophile.

The Complete Classic Jazz Quartet, Jazzology.

Getting Some Fun out of Life, Audiophile.

The Tuesday Band: Dick Sudhalter & the Anglo-American Alliance, Jazzology.

Live at Alexanderplatz! Dick Sudhalter in Rome, 1997.

OstiaJazz; and Phoebe Tyler Regrets: Ruth Warrick & Dick Sudhalter's Big Band, Pine Valley.

As Sideman:

Ronny Whyte: I Love a Piano (1976).

Lea, Sherman, Schoenberg, et al: Getting Some Fun Out of Life (1978).

Dick Hyman: Don't Give the Name a Bad Place (1978).

Anita Ellis & Larry Kert: Shadows (1979).

Max Morath: Max Morath in Jazz Country (1979).

Peter Dean: Where Did All the Magic Go? (1981)

Larry Elgart: Hooked on Swing, vols I & II (1982-83).

The Complete Classic Jazz Quartet (1983-85).

Loren Schoenberg's Big Band: That's the Way It Goes (1984).

Peggy King: Oh What a Memory We Made Tonight! (1984).

Lary Carr: Fit As a Fiddle (1986).

Daryl Sherman: She's a Great, Great Girl (1986).

Loren Schoenberg's Big Band: Time Waits for No One (1987), Manhattan Work Song (1992).

Tom Saunders' Wild Bill Davison All-Stars: Exactly Like You (1995).A

Aex Pangman: They Say (1999), Can't Stop Me From Dreamin' (2000).

Lou Lanza: Shadows and Echoes (2000).

Jeff Healey: Among Friends (2001)

Sadly, Richard suffered a massive stroke in 2003. Although he recovered initially, in the last three years Richard’s health has deteriorated considerably. Richard has been diagnosed as having MSA, multiple system atrophy. To help with his mounting medical expenses, at the suggestion of Enrico Borsetti, Dan Levinson and Randy Sandke, with the assistance of Dorothy Kellogg and Albert Haim, organized a benefit concert. The event took place on Sunday, September 10, 2006 at the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York City. Some of the musicians who participated included Ed Polcer, Joe Muranyi, Dave Frishberg, Bucky Pizzarelli,  Jon-Erik Kellso, Dan Levinson, Brad Kay, Jeff Healey, Daryl Sherman, Carol Sudhalter, Steve Kuhn, David Ostwald, Orange Kellin, Scott Robinson, Marian McPartland, Andy Stein, Randy Sandke, Dan Barrett, Marty Grosz, Loren Schoenberg.

The concert was a resounding success. There were 340 attendees plus musicians and their friends (about 100). In spite of the crowded schedule (nine bands and six soloists in three hours), the atmosphere was relaxed, everyone enjoying the music and paying homage to Richard.

Currently, Richard lives in New York City and, with good medical assistance, in his own words, he is “ making some progress now.”

I would like to end with a personal remark. I wish to acknowledge my immense debt of gratitude to Richard. His writings, in particular, “Bix, Man and Legend,” have influenced my life profoundly. Had it not been for Richard’s comprehensive, insightful, and sad - I cannot re-read “Bix, Man and Legend” without feeling a profound sorrow an melancholy- account of Bix’s life, my own life would not have been what it is today. I read “Bix, Man and Legend” over thirty years ago. After an induction/gestation period of a quarter of a century, I launched the Bixography website, and my life was changed forever and for the better. Thank you, Richard!

January, 2008