Jeff Sultanof Biography

"Jeff is one of the few arrangers who can write swing for a symphony orchestra that classically-trained musicians love playing."
James Maher

A pioneering editor and historian of American orchestral and jazz ensemble music, Jeffrey Sultanof was born in Queens, NY. As a teenager, he studied the clarinet with Augustin Duques, solo clarinetist with the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini, and composition with Lothar Perl. He attended the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts for the first three years of its existence, and studied with William Dwyer (band) and Andrew Householder (choir). He graduated from Queens College (CUNY) and his principal teachers were Carlos Surinach and Roger Nierenberg (conducting) and John Carisi (composition and arranging). But his most important teacher/student relationship was with arranger/conductor Jerry Graff. Over a thirty-five year period, Sultanof transitioned from eager student to trusted colleague and family member, orchestrating some of his last arrangements and producing his last recordings.

Sultanof was an editor/arranger with Warner Brothers Publications for over seventeen years, where he found another mentor/teacher in chief editor/arranger/composer Anthony Esposito. Sultanof worked directly with John Williams, Joe Raposo, Burt Bacharach and many other composers to prepare their music for print. He edited and annotated four Gershwin scores issued in facsimile editions, and edited Arranged by Nelson Riddle, Nelson Riddles textbook on arranging. He also corrected hundreds of piano/vocal arrangements of Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers & Hart, and many other legendary composers of the Great American Songbook, as well as arranging many of them for various instrumental and vocal combinations.

From 1994-2002, he was an editor and consultant with the Hal Leonard Corporation, where he worked with Sonny Rollins, Benny Green, Billy Childs and Gerry Mulligan, producing the last recordings of Mulligan as a baritone saxophonist. From 2002-2005, he was assistant professor of music at Five Towns College, arranging for and coaching singers, conducting the jazz ensemble and teaching courses on the music business, music history and film music on the Bachelors and Masters degree levels.

He was one of the first editors who championed researched and corrected vintage big band, orchestral and combo music for use by historians, educators and students. His most notable achievement in this area is a folio of the Miles Davis Nonet repertoire (The Birth of the Cool), published by Hal Leonard Corporation (Sultanofs in-depth article about this folio will be published by the Institute of Jazz Studies), and over 50 pieces composed and/or arranged by legendary Canadian composer Robert Farnon with the composers participation and approval. Sultanof has written hundreds of articles on music and film history; he was the only writer who contributed two articles to The Oxford Companion to Jazz (Oxford Univ. Press); most recently his articles and reviews have appeared on the jazz.com website.

As an arranger, Sultanof has written for Lynn Roberts, Ellen Gould, the Palm Beach Pops, and many other performers and ensembles. He has conducted student and professional symphonic orchestras, wind ensembles and jazz ensembles all over the United States, and has lectured at Rutgers University, Queens College and The New School for Social Research. In addition to his private students, Sultanof is a certified music and elementary classroom teacher in the state of New Jersey, and currently teaches music, literacy and writing in the Paterson Public Schools.

Jeff can be reached at jeffsultanof@ejazzlines.com