Although Carol Sudhalter’s first love was the flute, she was also seduced by the saxophone early in her career as a jazz musician.
“Playing different instruments allows me to expand my emotional palette,” she said. “The sax has the opposite personality of the flute, which tends to be politely petite, and it allows me to express a wide spectrum of emotions: It can be gruff, aggressive, gentle.”
In the early days of her career, in the late 1970s, Ms. Sudhalter attracted a lot of attention, because female players were rare.
“Women saxophonists like Camille Thurman and Lakecia Benjamin are now superstars,” Ms. Sudhalter, 81, said. “It’s a point of pride and joy for me that the virtuosity and recognition of women players has expanded so much since then.”
Ms. Sudhalter, who grew up in a musical family in Boston and graduated from Smith College, got her big break in 1978 when she moved to New York City to join Latin Fever, the first all-female Latin band. She founded the 18-member Astoria Big Band and has been a music teacher for over four decades. She gives private sax, flute and piano lessons to 20 students on Long Island each week.
She has lived in the same two-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens, since 1980. Ms. Sudhalter used to have roommates, but these days she shares the space with six saxophones, three clarinets, three flutes, a piccolo, a bass clarinet and a flugelhorn.
CREATURE OF HABIT I get up between 7 and 8, the same time I do every day. I do set an alarm clock, but I wake up before it rings. And I always have the same thing for breakfast: muesli with no sugar and yogurt, a ton of vitamins and a cup of black coffee.
I also do culinary preparation for the week. As a house-to-house music teacher at least four times a week, I pack a lunch. I make a big pot of soup, usually vegetable or bean, sauces like pesto, mayonnaise and horseradish, and other dips like hummus and tzatziki to liven up the dishes. I also bake a batch of almond-flour lemon cookies sweetened with monk fruit, or I make banana bread.
PLAYING IT FORWARD Lessons start at noon. Although some of the lessons are virtual, from January through March, when the students are studying for state music exams, they benefit more from in-person, so I’m generally in the car by 11 a.m. and usually home by 4 or so. I really enjoy seeing my students make progress. It’s one of the highlights of my career, right up there with when I was invited to Indiana two years ago to play the premiere of the jazz great Mickey Tucker’s “Spiritual Collage: A Suite for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra,” which was the thrill of a lifetime.
A 12-year-old piano student I’ve taught since he was 6 is studying Rachmaninoff and zooming through a Beethoven piece. He’s so advanced that I recently sent him to another teacher. And I’ve been teaching Ryan Richter tenor and alto sax since he was 10. He’s in high school now, and he’s ripping through school jazz band music and Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins.
BREAKING RHYTHM When lessons are canceled, I love going to North Square in Washington Square for the jazz brunch. For $20, I get a tasty meal — I usually order salad or smoked salmon — and an even tastier 90 minutes of music. Château le Woof, a coffee shop, is right around the corner from my apartment, so I go for the jazz brunch outdoors. I’ve had gigs there. The players, a duo or trio, are incredibly technical and beautiful, and people bring their dogs with them.
The ferry is in my backyard. You can get to East 90th Street or go all the way down to Wall Street to walk. For me, it’s more about the ride — it’s meditative and soothing.
My treat is going to Manhattan to see the New York Flute Club performances by special guests. The concerts are once a month, and the players are excellent.
TUNING UP I lead the Flushing Town Hall Louis Armstrong Legacy Monthly Jazz Jam and Astoria Big Band, so I’m rehearsing after the student lessons are over.
Will it be tenor sax, alto sax, baritone, flute, clarinet, piano or vocal? It’s so lovely to have a choice. I play them in rotation. What’s most important is to do it at peak energy time, which for me is midafternoon. I’ve had Covid three times, so I give myself long breaks so I don’t stress my muscles.
I choose and practice one tune associated with Louis Armstrong. The other tune will in some way be related to the season or current events. I choose the instrument according to the feel of the tune as I conceive it. I’m on the top floor of a two-family house, and I don’t have to worry about making noise because I’ve been there a long time, and my landlady loves the music.
CATCHING UP By 6 o’clock, I’m in front of the TV watching “PBS NewsHour.” This is not negotiable — unless I’m performing or attending a concert. I think it has the best news because it’s not sensationalist, it gives a broad spectrum of what’s happening and there are no commercials. Dinner is a snack, usually cooked vegetables or a small portion of fish or a couple of shrimps.
WATCHING THE CLASSICS I wind down around 7 o’clock by watching a little mindless TV. I like detective shows and old, nostalgia shows. I might run across “Monk,” “Columbo” or “Lawrence Welk.” For me, the adventure is surfing to see what I can find.
By 8:30 or 9:30, I’m in bed. I might wake up in the middle of the night, but I don’t mind that. I find it fun to read. Christian Cooper’s “Better Living Through Birding,” David Brooks’s “The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life” and Paolo Cognetti’s “The Eight Mountains” are the volumes that are presently getting me through the night.
