The best of the best jazz performers from the last year are taking to the stage again at Flushing Town Hall on July 8 in the 2026 Jazz Jam All Stars concert.<\/p>\n
Carol Sudhalter, who heads up the Flushing Town Hall Jazz Jam House Band, said guests can once again expect something special.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do a monthly jam session on the second Wednesday of each month,\u201d Sudhalter told the Chronicle last week. \u201cWhat we do once a year, we pick out 10 of the people who came to jam sessions to have their own concert.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s lineup features singer Angela Arthur; Richard Braithwaite on tenor sax; singer and guitarist Gary Davis; Richie Desimone playing the upright bass; pianist and singer Terrence Dove; pianist Jason Greenberg; guitarist Joe Knipes; Ken Meyer on saxophone; singer Keeley Mitchell; and Gerald Thomas on bass, piano and sax.<\/p>\n
The concert will start at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Sudhalter said participants are chosen based on their excellent playing, wonderful cooperative attitude and frequent attendance at the jam sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though we\u2019d love to have more than 10 people we can\u2019t really have more than 10 in one concert,\u201d Sudhalter said. \u201cWe have the same rhythm and the same house band. Each performer will do two compositions that they choose. And it\u2019s a wonderful concert.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sudhalter said they do limit artists to three appearances in the All Star concert.<\/p>\n
The house band also includes musicians Joe Vincent Tranchina, Scott Neumann and Eric Lemon for what Flushing Town Hall says is an event intended to celebrate and honor both the artists and audiences who regularly attend the monthly jams.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a celebration for the NYC Jazz community,\u201d FTH said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The planning process, Sudhalter said, is a bit more complex then it might seem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to work about three months ahead,\u201d she said. \u201cFirst you have to choose the people. Then you have to get their bios from them, and make sure they\u2019re all going to be in town. We had some who aren\u2019t going to be in the country in July.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next comes securing performers\u2019 photos, and, finally, their selections for the two pieces they\u2019ll be performing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s usually the last thing we get,\u201d Sudhalter said.<\/p>\n
Some artists, she said, occasionally have an original piece tucked in along with standards by the likes of Duke Ellington or Billy Strayhorn, with the band planning two sets of 10 numbers apiece.<\/p>\n
She said regular audience members and first-timers alike are in for an entertaining evening.<\/p>\n
With a few vocalists on the bill, Sudhalter said it generally isn\u2019t difficult for experienced musicians to go back and forth between performing instrumental numbers and those where they become accompanists for singers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our lives as musicians, we\u2019re always working with other people,\u201d Sudhalter said, with some earning excellent reputations specifically as accompanists.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou learn as you go along,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And Sudhalter never minds the work that goes into the annual performance once the lights go on.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, it\u2019s really fun,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s more fun because Flushing Town Hall is so easy to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n