In a career spanning 75 years, composer David Amram has created a rich array of works across symphony, chamber music, opera, jazz, and stage and film scores, and collaborated with many leading musicians, playwrights, artists, actors, and writers, including Jack Kerouac, Woody Guthrie, Dizzy Gillespie, Arthur Miller, Paul Newman, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Patti Smith, and hundreds more. An innovator who blended jazz and global folk styles with classical traditions, Amram's career also emphasizes the creative potential of collaboration.
This book offers a wide-ranging exploration of Amram's work and influence, situating the composer in the context of today's international culture. It shows how Amram's proficiencies in spontaneous, on-stage music creation enriches his formal classical composing. The book includes multi-media links for readers. Bringing together perspectives from conductors, musicians, performers, scholars and journalists, this is the essential guide to a major figure in contemporary music.
About the Author: Dean Birkenkamp has worked for 43 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.
