The Many Worlds of David Amram

In a career spanning 70 years, composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist David Amram is hailed today as the creator of symphonic works, chamber music, and two operas; as a brilliant jazz and vocal improviser; and the composer of memorable stage and film scores. He has collaborated with many leading musicians, playwrights, artists, actors, and writers, including Jack Kerouac, Woody Guthrie, Leonard Bernstein, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Elmira Darvarova, Paul Newman, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, and hundreds more. An innovator who blended jazz and global folk styles with classical traditions, Amram's career also emphasizes the creative potential of joyful collaboration. This new book offers a fascinating and wide-ranging picture of Amram's work and influence, from the rich, pioneering days of 1950s America to today's embrace of international cultures. It shows how Amram's gift as an on-stage spontaneous creator enriches his formal classical composing. With multi-media links for readers, it is possible to see and hear film and audio highlights and adventures described in this book by important conductors, musicians, performers, scholars, and journalists. This book is the essential guide to a major figure in contemporary music.

Dean Birkenkamp has worked for 44 years in book publishing. Currently he is a Senior Editor with Routledge Publishers. He was the Founder and President of Paradigm Publishers, where he and his staff were fortunate to publish more than 800 books by leading scholars, journalists, musicians, and public intellectuals. An amateur pianist, he studied anthropology and music theory and composition at the University of Illinois-Champagne-Urbana. His previous book is Uncommon Sense from the Writings of Howard Zinn, with Howard Zinn and Wanda Rhudy.

Part I: Introductions - How to Explain David Amram? by Dean Birkenkamp - "All Joy" An Introduction to the Life-Artistry of David Amram, by Gary Lippman Part II: David Amram's Symphonic and Chamber Compositions - Amram's Concert Hall Compositions, by Dean Birkenkamp - David Amram's Chamber Music, by Elmira Darvarova - Premiering New Amram Compositions, by Kenneth Radnofsky - This Land: Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie, by Laura Schulkind - Sir James Galway: Commissioning and Premiering Giants of the Night, by Keith Marshall - Conducting Amram's Violin Concerto, by JoAnn Falletta - Letting an Orchestra Feel Free and Inspired: The Art of Amram's Conducting, by Howard Wall - A Promising Old Composer: The Power of Creativity in Later Life, by John Leland - Beethoven to Boxing: Artistry in Two Worlds, by Larry Merchant Part III: Opera and Theater Contributions of David Amram - From Theater to Opera, by Dean Birkenkamp - David Amram: A Jewish Life in Music: The Final Ingredient and other Important Compositions, by Jeff Janeczko - The Essence of David Amram, by Keir Dullea - Remembering the Premiere of Amram's Opera Twelfth Night, by Christopher Alden and David Alden - Filming Twelfth Night, by Lawrence Kraman Part IV: Amram the Jazz Performer and Composer - A Lifetime in Jazz, by Dean Birkenkamp - David Amram's Early Jazz Years and Collaborations, by Marc Myers - Amram and Cuba: Varieties of Afro-Cuban and Latin Musics, by Arturo O'Farrill - Innovations: Jamming with Amram Across the Decades, by Mark Morganelli - David Amram is a Musical Instrument, by Malachy McCourt - Now is the Time as Creative Manifestation of Consciousness, by Hugh Ragin - No More Walls: The Ever-Wider World of David Amram, by David Cole Part V: The Songs of David Amram - From Orchestral Compositions to Spontaneous Lyrics, by Dean Birkenkamp - A Composer's Way with Words, by Hassan Melehy - The Songs of David Amram: Jazz, Classical, Film, and Operatic Compositions, by Gerald Bieritz - Scat and Make-Up Songs: The Art of One-Time Only Rap Reporting, by David Amram - Bourbon is Vegetarian, By Kurt Elling and David Amram Part VI: The Whole Wide World of Amram's Folk Performance - Performing the World's Music, by Dean Birkenkamp - Melding Folk and Symphonic: Commissioning This Land, by Nora Guthrie - Remembering Odetta: 40 Years of Midnight Adventures, with Kris Kristofferson, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Others, by David Amram - Peforming Folk Music in Many Venues, by John McEuen - The Dean of Hangout-ology at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, by Deana McCloud - A Unique Performer in the Folk World, by Barry Ollman - Musical Adventures with David Amram, by Radoslav Lorkovic - David Amram Doesn't Play Music, by John Cooper Part VII: Amram the Author-and His Collaborations with Writers - David Amram's Literary Endeavors, by Dean Birkenkamp - Langston Hughes, Jack Kerouac, David Amram, by Ronald Martinetti - Let Us Remember: Review of the Cantata by Langston Hughes and David Amram, by Paul Hertelendy - Vibrations, Musical Differences, Life with Others, by Charles Lemert - On Amram's Book Upbeat: Nine Lives of a Musical Cat, by Frank McCourt - "Life is Even More Fun at 90" Amram and the Kerouac Legacy, by Holly George Warren Part VIII: Hollywood and Beyond: Amram's Film Scores - From the Village to Hollywood, by Dean Birkenkamp - Frankenheimer, Sinatra, and the Scoring of The Manchurian Candidate, by Neil Hickey - The Manchurian Candidate: The Novel, the Film, the Music, by Geoff Wills - Cinema's Elusive Musical Poet: Scoring Splendor in the Grass, by Steve Vertlieb Part IX: Amram's Legacy: Mixing Musical Styles and Performance Traditions - Hearing a Singular Sound in the Universe, by Dean Birkenkamp - Amram's Musical Bouillabaisse, by Larry Kirwan - At Home Around the World, by David Amram - David Amram and Native American Musical Performance, by Matoaka Little Eagle - Native Flutes and Friendship, by Louis Mofsie - Diamonds in the Sidewalk: Kerouac, Amram, and the Bells of Hell, by Robin Hirsch - The Village and the Man Who Makes It Live On, By Elizabeth Thomson - An Icon of Inclusion and Pioneer of World Music, by Douglas Brinkley Part X: Coda - You are Only as Old as You Make Other People Feel, by David Amram