JSO Clubscene

Jimmy Mak’s – February 23, 2007
Monnette Sudler Trio

Monnette Sudler, guitar and vocals
Marion Simon, drums
Steve Beskrone, bass

I attended the performance of the Monnette Sudler trio at Jimmy Maks on February 23rd, as part of the Portland Jazz Festival’s “Discover! Series” of lesser-known musicians whom we should learn about. This is certainly true of Monnette Sudler. Her trio consisted of herself on a solid body Paul Reed Smith guitar and vocals, Marion Simon on drums and Steve Beskrone on bass.

She hit the jazz scene in the late 1970’s as one of only two women jazz guitarists getting any attention, the other being Emily Remler who unfortunately died in 1990. My friend, Portland’s own guitarist, Margaret Slovak, who was with me at this event, knew about her from years ago and wondered why she hadn’t heard very much about her lately. Maybe now is the time, she put on a wonderful show.

Margaret helped explain “the Philly sound” to me. It is jazz with an influence of R & B and soul. Monnette got warmed up with Night and Day. Then, after playing a few bars of Afro Blue, there was an audible reaction from the audience as they prepared for a solid, grooving rendition of that song. Monnette has warm stage presence and a smile that would melt an iceberg. She seemed to move with her music on stage, and enjoy it in such a way that anyone watching her would feel they were at a great party. This was followed by Bob Marley’s Turn the Lights Down Low, on which Monnette did vocals, and Steve Beskrone switched from his stand up bass to electric bass.

After that they played an original composition of Monnette’s called Transitions. There were wonderful solos on stand up bass and drums, as well as her guitar, so the audience applauded especially enthusiastically at the end. This was followed by Thelonius Monk’s I Mean You, which caused lots of smiles among the band members. Then, Tenderly, which Monnette sang with a voice especially rich in the lower register. The set ended with the title song from her latest CD Egyptian Mystery Suite. Margaret pointed out that Monnette used a “whammy bar” to add a little extra groove on this one.

To summarize, it seemed that as an audience, we all felt privileged to be let in on this special music, a little different than anything we have here in Portland. Thank you to the Portland Jazz Festival for making it happen.

Sydney Kennedy, guest writer