Background
Sudhalter, Richard Merrill was born on December 28, 1938 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Albert William and Esther Frieda (Stearns) Sudhalter.
(Many jazz fans and critics--and even some jazz musicians-...)
Many jazz fans and critics--and even some jazz musicians--contend that white players have contributed little of substance to the music; that even, with every white musician removed from the canon, the history and nature of jazz would remain unchanged. Now, with Lost Chords, musician-historian Richard M. Sudhalter challenges this narrow view, with a book that pays definitive tribute to a generation of white jazz players, many unjustly forgotten--while never scanting the role of the great black pioneers. Eagerly awaited by the jazz community, this monumental volume offers an exhaustively documented, vividly narrated history of white jazz contribution in the vital years 1915 to 1945. Beginning in New Orleans, Sudhalter takes the reader on a fascinating multicultural odyssey through the hot jazz gestation centers of Chicago and New York, Indiana and Texas, examining such bands such as the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, the Original Memphis Five, and the Casa Loma Orchestra. Readers will find luminous accounts of many key soloists, including Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Red Norvo, Bud Freeman, the Dorsey Brothers, Bunny Berigan, Pee Wee Russell, and Artie Shaw, among others. Sudhalter revives the once-great reputations of these and many other major jazzmen, pleading their cases persuasively and eloquently, without ever descending to polemic. Along the way, he gives due credit to Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, and countless other major black figures. Destined to become a basic reference book on the subject, Lost Chords is a ground-breaking book that should significantly alter perceptions about jazz and its players, reminding readers of this great music's multicultural origins.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195055853/?tag=2022091-20
(Georgia on My Mind, Rockin' Chair, Skylark, Lazybones, an...)
Georgia on My Mind, Rockin' Chair, Skylark, Lazybones, and of course the incomparable Star Dust--who else could have composed these classic American songs but Hoagy Carmichael? He remains, for millions, the voice of heartland America, eternal counterpoint to the urban sensibility of Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Now, trumpeter and historian Richard M. Sudhalter has penned the first book-length biography of the man Alec Wilder hailed as "the most talented, inventive, sophisticated and jazz-oriented of all the great songwriters--the greatest of the great craftsmen." Stardust Melody follows Carmichael from his roaring-twenties Indiana youth to bandstands and recording studios across the nation, playing piano and singing alongside jazz greats Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and close friends Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong. It illuminates his peak Hollywood years, starring in such films as To Have and Have Not and The Best Years of Our Lives, and on radio, records and TV. With compassionate insight Sudhalter depicts Hoagy's triumphs and tragedies, and his mounting despair as rock-and-roll drowns out and lays waste to the last days of a brilliant career. With an insider's clarity Sudhalter explores the songs themselves, still fresh and appealing while reminding us of our innocent American yesterdays. Drawing on Carmichael's private papers and on interviews with family, friends and colleagues, he reveals that "The Old Music Master" was almost as gifted a wordsmith as a shaper of melodies. In all, Stardust Melody offers a richly textured portrait of one of our greatest musical figures, an inspiring American icon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195168984/?tag=2022091-20
Sudhalter, Richard Merrill was born on December 28, 1938 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Albert William and Esther Frieda (Stearns) Sudhalter.
Bachelor, Oberlin College, 1960.
English instructor Berlitz School, Munich and Salzburg, Federal Republic Germany, 1960-1964, Munich, 1964-1972. Freelance cornet, trumpet player, 1960-1964. News correspondent, bureau manager United Press International, various locations, 1964-1972.
Principal author, manager, editor Educational Audio Video, London, 1972-1973. Freelance musician New Paul Whitman Orchestra, London and United Kingdom, 1973-1975. Reviewer, jazz writer various publications, London, 1973-1975.
Jazz critic, reviewer New York Post, New York City, 1978-1983. Administrator New York Jazz Repertory Company, 1975-1977. Record sleeve annotator Radio Corporation of America, Columbia Broadcasting System, Time-Life, Readers' Digest Recorded Music and others.
Artistic director Vineyard Theater, New York City. Lecturer American Civilization Brown University,Providence.
(Georgia on My Mind, Rockin' Chair, Skylark, Lazybones, an...)
(Many jazz fans and critics--and even some jazz musicians-...)
(Book by Sudhalter, Richard M., Evans, Philip R.)
(First Edition)
(First Edition)
Married Karen Rolf (divorced). Married Vivian Segall Darian, 1962 (div 1983). Children: Kimberley Lyle, Adrian Vaile.