Richard Merrill Sudhalter (28 December 1938 – 19 September 2008)
Biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
''AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
'' was an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
trumpeter and writer.
Biography
Born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
, United States,
Sudhalter was inspired to pursue a musical career by his father, Al Sudhalter ''(né'' Albert W. Sudhalter; 1905–1975), a noted Boston-area
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
soloist. Dick began playing the
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
at 12 and within a few years was performing professionally. After graduating from
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
, he moved to Europe in 1964, later becoming a
United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...
correspondent. In 1968, he covered the
Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia from Prague for UPI and was subsequently assigned the role of Manager for Eastern Europe. During his twelve years living in Europe and the UK, he also wrote under the pseudonym "Art Napoleon." He wrote jazz criticism for the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' from 1978 to 1984.
Literary works
In 1974, Sudhalter and Philip R. Evans ''(né'' Philip Roland Evans; 1935–1999) co-wrote ''Bix: Man and Legend'', the standard biography of jazz
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
ist
Bix Beiderbecke
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer.
Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...
,
and the first jazz biography ever to be nominated for a National Book Award. Music critic
Terry Teachout
Terrance Alan Teachout (February 6, 1956 – January 13, 2022) was an American author, critic, biographer, playwright, stage director, and librettist.
He was the drama critic of ''The Wall Street Journal'', the critic-at-large of ''Commentary'' ...
has called the book "a 'landmark of jazz scholarship' and the 'first jazz biography written to the standards' of a serious study of a classical composer or other major historical figure." Sudhalter's other books are ''Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz, 1915-1945'' (1999) and ''Stardust Melody'' (2002), the first full-length biography of
Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...
. ''Lost Chords'' ignited some controversy for its assertion that jazz was shaped by both black and white musicians.
[Obituary, ''Oberlin Alumni Magazine'' (Winter 2008–2009), p. 47] Sudhalter received an ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Citation for Excellence for ''Lost Chords'', and a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
in 1983 for his liner notes for ''Bunny Berigan: Giants of Jazz''.
Illness and death
A stroke in 2003 forced him to retire from playing, after which he developed
multiple system atrophy
Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by autonomic dysfunction, tremors, slow movement, muscle rigidity, and postural instability (collectively known as parkinsonism) and ataxia. This is caused by progr ...
, a disease that left him unable to speak and subsequently led to his death from
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
, aged 69.
He was survived by his brother and sister
Carol Sudhalter
Carol Stearns Sudhalter (January 5, 1943) is an American Jazz saxophonist.
Biography
Sudhalter grew up in a musical family: Her father Albert played the alto saxophone in the New England area with the bands of Herbie Marsh, Eddy Duchin, Bobby Ha ...
, a New York-based saxophonist and flutist, two adult daughters, his ex-wife Vivian Sudhalter of 18 years, and his companion Dorothy Kellogg of 22 years.
References
External links
''New York Times'' obituary, 20 September 2008Dick Sudhalter papers, artifacts, and audio recordings Institute of Jazz Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sudhalter, Dick
American jazz cornetists
American music critics
Grammy Award winners
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
Jazz writers
Oberlin College alumni
Musicians from Boston
1938 births
2008 deaths
Neurological disease deaths in New York (state)
Deaths from multiple system atrophy
20th-century American musicians
20th-century American biographers
Jazz musicians from Massachusetts