Monnette Sudler
*Monnette Sudler was born on this date in 1952. She was a Black jazz guitarist, band leader, and lyricist.
She was born Monnette Goldman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Lea Goldman, married Truman W. Sudler in 1957. She grew up in the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood of the city. Her first exposure to jazz was listening to her great-uncle play piano. When she was fifteen, she took lessons on guitar at the Wharton Center in Philadelphia. She could play drums and piano and composed, arranged, sang, and wrote poetry.
Early in her career, she worked with vibraphonist Khan Jamal in the Sounds of Liberation. In the 1970s, she studied at the Berklee School of Music in Boston and, in the 1980s, at Temple University. Time for a Change (1977) was her first album as band leader.
During her career, she worked with Kenny Barron, Hamiet Bluiett, Arthur Blythe, Sonny Fortune, Dave Holland, Freddie Hubbard, Hugh Masekela, Cecil McBee, David Murray, Sunny Murray, Trudy Pitts, Odean Pope, Don Pullen, Sam Rivers, Shirley Scott, Archie Shepp, Leon Thomas, Cedar Walton, Grover Washington Jr., and Reggie Workman. She was creating until almost the end of her life.
Her final album, "Stay Strong," was released in the fall of 2021 and contained original songs of spiritual uplift and social consciousness. Monnette Sudler died from blood cancer on August 21, 2022, at 70.
To Become a musician or Singer
To Become a Conductor or Composer
