Don Suhor

Don Suhor played clarinet and alto sax in a stunning variety of jazz contexts for 55 years in New Orleans. Virtually unknown outside of the city, he was universally admired by local musicians as a gifted improvisor. On clarinet he applied prodigious technique and knowledge of chords to develop a unique “Dixiebop” style. Trumpeter Wendell Brunious said, “I admired the way he could go from style to style seamlessly and flawlessly.” On alto sax he was a fluent and inventive bopper, influenced by a cadre of post-WWII modernists who jammed after hours at strip clubs in the French Quarter.

On both instruments Suhor frequently incorporated notes above the normal range of the horn into his solos—in Dan Morgenstern’s words,“not a technical stunt, but an extension of his voice that feels natural, not contrived.” James Markway, bassist and head of the Tulane Jazz Studies Program said that “Don absorbed Parker, Goodman, Shaw, and many others—then went beyond. His pursuit was developing musical mastery, independent of public acclaim.”

Suhor’s integration of jazz styles was unlikely, but he came about it honestly. Born in New Orleans on August 30, 1932, he was the third in a family of five children in the upper Ninth Ward. He took up clarinet around 1944 when his mother, a first generation American who played piano at elementary school functions, insisted that young Don “get some sort of musical education.” He chose clarinet because he had heard Artie Shaw on the swing era records his older siblings, Mary Lou and Ben, had bought—and he thought Shaw looked handsome playing the instrument. Shaw, local great Irving Fazola, and Benny Goodman were his earliest influences, though his record collection came to include Jimmy Noone, Peanuts Hucko, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall, Hank D’Amico, Jimmy Hamilton, Buddy DeFranco, and others. His brother Charles, three years his junior, had a growing collection of records that included exemplary clarinet ensemble work by George Lewis, Edmond Hall, Matty Mattlock, and others.

Suhor took beginners’ group classes at Werlein’s Music Store under Johnny Wiggs, the noted Bixian cornetist and co-founder of the New Orleans Jazz Club. Suhor’s enthusiasm led to serious study with Emanuel Alessandra, oboist with the New Orleans Symphony. Pete Fountain also studied with Alessandra. Fountain and Suhor were among those who entered a Benny Goodman search for the city’s most promising young clarinetist in 1947. The finalists were Suhor, age fourteen, and nineteen year-old Don Lasday, who later became a versatile reedman and teacher in the city. Lasday played a bluesy improvisation. Suhor won the Goodman trophy with, ironically, two Shaw solos, rendered with flawless control of feeling and inflections.

Leading a combo of Nicholls High School students, Suhor played weekend dances at teen venues like the W.O.W. (Woodmen of the World) Hall on Almonaster Avenue, a block from the legendary Luthjen’s Dance Hall. A natural teacher, he introduced the group to unusual tunes like Art Hodes’ haunting “Clark and Randolph.” He also played in the Irish Channel with young Dixielanders like the Assunto brothers, Al McCrossen, and Johnny McGhee and gigged with older bands led by Stuart (“Red Hott”) Bergen, Dutch Andrus, and Joe Helwick.

This was a time of extraordinary ferment in the city—the local post WWII revival of 1947-1953. Veteran jazzmen like Sharkey Bonano, Irving Fazola, George Lewis, Raymond Burke, Papa Celestin, Santo Pecora, Tony Almerico, Armand Hug, and Monk Hazel were widely heard by an admiring public.They spawned a new generation of Dixielanders, notably the Dukes of Dixieland (with the Assuntos and Fountain), the Basin Street Six (with George Girard and Fountain), Murphy Campo, Pee Wee Spitilera, and Connie Jones.

In 1950 Don persuaded Charles to accompany his daily front-room solo jams on a makeshift percussion setup—coat-hanger sticks, cardboard boxes, a pot cover cymbal, and a small stepstool for a woodblock. A natural teacher, Suhor introduced his brother to jazz genres, styles, and history. In the rich musical environment of the time, Charles grew active in weekend dance combos and at jam sessions with age-alike modernists like Bill Huntington, Allen Hermann, and Buddy Prima.

Don took up alto sax late in his high school years. He quickly became a good section man, then was introduced to modern jazz by collegians as he sat in with the excellent Loyola Moods big band and played for three years with the official Campus Capers band/entertainment troupe. His expansive mind was soon engaged by the early recordings of Lee Konitz and the Lennie Tristano school. But his conception on sax was transformed in the early 1950s at after hours jam sessions in the French Quarter. The superb bebop alto saxist Joseph “Mouse” Bonati, recently arrived from Buffalo, New York, became his idol, along with, inevitably, Charlie Parker. Suhor became a hard-swinging bopper among the pioneering modernist underground that was nowhere on the radar of the press or the general public. Despite working most often as a sideman on clarinet, he came to prefer playing alto sax and over the years developed a highly personal voice on the instrument.

Suhor never left New Orleans, except when he was drafted for a two-year Army stint in the mid- fifties and stationed as a bandsman at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Fort Lee, Virginia. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he lived briefly as the stereotypical starving artist, playing occasional gigs with young pianist/vocalist Shirley Horn, tenor saxist Buck Hill, and others.

On returning to New Orleans, he played steady gigs over the years as leader of a pit band at the Sho’Bar, as a sideman with George French’s Dixieland cum bebop combo at Crazy Shirley’s, and in Santo Pecora’s jazz band at the Famous Door. He played a twelve-year jazz brunch stint at the Court of Two Sisters. In some years he worked more gigs than there were days in the year, thanks to luncheon work, frequent weekends at the Palm Court Jazz Café, spot jobs with pickup bands, and pinch-hitting for regular reedmen in groups led by Al Hirt, Connie Jones, and others. Historian/clarinetist Tom Jacobsen wrote, “Don Suhor always distinguished himself with his inventiveness and musicianship. He worked with the city’s best and in virtually all of the local venues.”

Suhor’s few recordings as a sideman didn’t capture the depth and range of his talent. But in 2018 GHB/Jazzology released a posthumous two-CD set, Don Suhor—New Orleans Clarinet and Sax Virtuoso, composed mainly of privately recorded performances with rhythm sections and several tracks with Dixieland combos. His brother Charles gathered the materials over several years from various leaders and arranged for production with Lars Edegran at Jazzology.

Don Suhor died of lung cancer in 2002 at age 70. A month earlier, a hastily organized benefit jam session at the Palm Court drew over 250 musicians and friends. He was preceded in death by his wife Betsy Ferne Perry and was survived by their daughter, Donna Marie; his second wife, Bridget Babbs; and their sons, Nick and Christopher; and four siblings, Mary Lou, Bernard, Jane, and Charles. Show less