Flushing Town Hall hosts final virtual Jazz Jam

Flushing Town Hall is celebrating Louis Armstrong’s birthday and the final Jazz Jam to be fully remote. Photo via Flushing Town Hall

By Rachel Vick

After more than a year of remote events, Flushing Town Hall’s final virtual Jazz Jam is going out with a bang in celebration of Louis Armstrong's birthday.

The Aug. 11 event is themed to honor Armstrong’s musical legacy, and those of other musicians with August birthdays, before the event returns in-person in the coming months.

“I am excited to discover what legendary artists, past or present, our performers will choose to pay tribute to in our final virtual jam,” says Flushing Town Hall’s jazz band leader Carol Sudhalter.

“We didn't know what to do [when the pandemic started],” she told the Eagle. “At first it was hard to get people… but after they try, they get into it and then they want to do it again. The vibe is very good, it's a really [positive] feeling.”

Over the last 15 months, Sudhalter has worked to connect musicians from around the world who were looking for an outlet and connections while in lockdown.

One man played a xylophone from a cabin in Wisconsin, others sent in clips from Australia and France, but each participant shared their stories and brought their own spin on the month’s theme — each among the band leader’s favorite part of the program.

The pandemic wasn’t easy on Sudhalter, who contracted COVID and battled long haul symptoms, but she said that organizing and participating in the jam session helped provide a sense of routine during recovery.

“It changed me because.. I was really sick [but] it gave me something creative to do every month so I wouldn't feel totally exasperated,” she said. “I didn't think that I could do a lot of the things I did. It's a great eye opener for myself, expanding our horizons.”

Starting Sept. 8, the event will be back in person, and Sudhalter hopes to find a way to include the many participants internationally and from across the country.

“It’s been a great success and a lot of the people that watch online are really going to miss it,” she said. “So we’re talking to the engineer about a way to do it; we can’t do it overnight, but we’ll figure something out.”

Musicians interested in participating in the final virtual jam can email education@flushingtownhall.org to sign up.