Archives for January 6, 2009

A few months ago I paid tribute in this space to Richard M. Sudhalter, the distinguished jazz musician, historian, biographer, and critic, who died last September after a long and grievous illness. Dick’s friends and fans will doubtless be pleased to know that his life and work are being celebrated at a memorial concert to be held on January 12 at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York City.

The list of musicians scheduled to perform includes Howard Alden, Donna Byrne, James Chirillo, Bill Crow, Armen Donelian, Bob Dorough, Paquito D’Rivera, Jim Ferguson, Carol Fredette, Marty Grosz, Sy Johnson, Dick Katz, Bill Kirchner, Steve Kuhn, Dan Levinson, Boots Maleson, Marian McPartland, Ray Moska, Joe Muranyi, Sam Parkins, Ed Polcer, Loren Schoenberg, Daryl Sherman, Nancy Stearns, Carol Sudhalter, Ronny Whyte, Jackie Williams, and Marshall Wood. That is–to put it mildly–one hell of a lineup.

In between performances, Albert Haim, Dan Morgenstern, Pat Phillips, and Daryl Sherman will talk about Dick, and I’ll play a few of his favorite records.

St. Peter’s is at 619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street. The music starts at seven p.m. The concert is open to the public. Even if you can’t come, please help spread the word in person, via e-mail, or on your blog if you have one.

Time: noon. Place: A rental car driving down Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach.

HE They call this Billionaires Row. I looked it up this morning.

SHE I can’t imagine having enough money to buy that kind of house.

HE Me, neither.

SHE And I can’t imagine living in any of these houses. Don’t you think they’re tacky?

HE Mm-hmm. I bet there’s a lot of bad art on Ocean Boulevard.

SHE (enthusiastically) You know what I think? People with bad taste should have to give part of their money to people with good taste.

HE (thinking it over) Well…you wouldn’t want it to be too obviously confiscatory. It’d have to be more like a transfer payment.

A beat.

You could call it the Teachout Taste Transfer Tax.

SHE You take the fun out of everything.

Drum on your drums, batter on your banjos,

sob on the long cool winding saxophones.

Go to it, O jazzmen.

Carl Sandburg, “Jazz Fantasia”