CAROL SUDHALTER 10-PIECE BAND PRESENTS ‘WOMEN COMPOSERS OF QUEENS’- BILLIE HOLIDAY TO JUTTA HIPP AT JAMAICA CENTER FOR ARTS & LEARNING

The boro of Queens ranks high in today's news. Builders are tossing up new structures in unnoticed alleys. Artists are painting, sculptors are sculpting. Photographers capture the myriad headdresses; and international cuisine from Bosnian to Pakistani abounds.

Jazz fans have always known of Queens' rich music tradition, as the borough that housed Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Big Nick Nicholas and more. Night life was always abundant, with jazz and show spots populating the entire map from Jamaica to Queens Boulevard.

Jazz women of the boro have been less apparent to the public eye. A concert on November 18 at Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, 161-04 Jamaica Ave., Queens, will present works of Queens' women composer/ performers from Billie Holiday to Julie Mandel.

Mandel, living in Queens for years, presents new works constantly. The late pianist/composer Jutta Hipp, a Blue Note recording artist, has become the subject of much research; organist Sarah McLawler is enjoying over 50 years of travel and performance, played with violinist husband Richard Otto in a wild and eclectic duo all over Queens and Long Island; Emme Kemp is writer of the show Bubbling Brown Sugar (everyone knows the show, but how many know the composer?). These are just a few of the exceptional women whose works will be heard on Nov. 18 at the JCAL concert, where saxophonist carol Sudhalter will lead a 10-piece band featuring vocalist Myrna Lake.

Arrangements for the concert are by Bostonian composer Ray Loring (composer for PBS' NOVA), Amherst College-based award winning composer Eric Sawyer, Queens residents Chris Rinaman and Dotti Anita Taylor, and many more.

Several of the featured women composers will be in attendance. Kemp will participate as pianist and vocalist in the debut performance of her lush and outstanding "First Awakenings" jazz ballet.

Sudhalter founded and has led her Astoria Jazz Band since 1986. Her latest CD, "Shades of Carol", was released in Rome in October on Alfa Records and RAI Trade.

Funding for the concert is from the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning and from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the NY State Council on the Arts, administered by the Queens Council on the Arts.

Tickets are $10 (7 for seniors and 5 for students). Call 718 658 7400 ext 152, or go to www.jcal.org. Carol Sudhalter info/interviews: 718 278 5331 or www.sudhalter.com