See also Amram's tribute note written for Clearwater.

See David's Full tribute to Odetta

Mercury News

So here we are plunging into the worst economic times in 80 years. Banks are tumbling, arts groups are folding -- and Symphony Silicon Valley is forging ahead with the most ambitious project in its seven-season history.

Thursday night at the California Theatre, the orchestra gave the world premiere of David Amram's "Three Songs: A Concerto for Piano and Orchestra" with soloist Jon Nakamatsu. It's very American music, breathing Amram's love of Gershwin, jazz, black spirituals and Copland's hymn-lined melancholia. You owe it to yourself to see one of this weekend's two remaining performances.

... Amram's concerto casts spells. Portions of the score are marked "dolce e religioso," and indeed, the work is dosed with beguiling sweetness and slow-burning, sacred power.

See full review

Along the with the many musical tributes in store for the 2010-2011 season celebrating the 80 years of the astonishingly productive life of Amram, Larry Kraman of Newport Classic Ltd. Recordings and Films is making a documentary film of Amram's life. In addition to all his current activities, archival film footage from his lifetime of of non-stop activities is being gathered from sources from around the world. See this link for further details.

The Pioneer Valley Symphony presented the East Coast premier of Amram's new work, "Symphonic Variations On a Song by Woody Guthrie" on February 28, 2009 in North Hampton, MA. See this link (PDF) for more information.

The Guthrie Foundation commissioned Amram to compose this new symphonic work, celebrating the roots musics of Oklahoma Native American Indian stomp dances, Mexican polkas, European classical, African American, Country and Western, Delta Blues, and the immigrant urban sounds heard by Guthrie when he lived in Brooklyn, surrounded by Jewish, Asian, Latino, and Central European musics, all of which were part of Guthrie's experience in his wanderings as he composed This Land is Your Land.

It is modeled after Brahms Variations on a theme by Haydn and Amram's own Theme and Variations on Red River Valley for Flute and Strings, inspired by the time he spent with Guthrie in 1956, and Guthrie's book Bound for Glory.

Other orchestras are programming it for the 2009-2010 season.

See the following links for reviews and articles:

• Review from the San Francisco Classical Voice
• Review from the Metro San Jose
• Review from the San Jose Mercury News
• Notes From the Composer

Upbeat : Nine Lives of a Musical Cat was released as their first trade book, with a forward by Frank McCourt. Amram's second book, "Offbeat: Collaborating wth Kerouac" has just been re-released by Paradigm Publishers in an updated version in paperback, with a new Forward by biographer Bill Morgan. Amram's first book, Vibrations, is being re-released in paperback by Paradigm in January of 2009.

See the following links for reviews and articles:

• The Boston Globe review of Upbeat
• JazzTimes review of Upbeat
• St. Petersburg Times review of Upbeat

This 1988 live recording contains the song with lyrics by Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Alan Ginsburg with Amram's music, used as the title song for the classic 1959 film, narrated by Jack Kerouac. For further details, see this Bridge Records page. The all-star band includes Paquito d' Rivera, saxophone; Vic Juris, guitar; Akira Tana, drums and and Victor Venegas, bass along with Amram's scat vocals and his multitude of instruments. Compositions include music by Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Gershwin and Amram.

Amram's symphony Songs of the Soul and excerpts from his Friday Night Sacred Service and Holocaust opera The Final Ingredient has been released internationally by Naxos Records. Sponsored by the Milken Foundation, these three critically acclaimed works were conducted by Kenneth Kiesler and Christopher Wilkins.

Outside of Convention- From Fanny Lou Hamer to Martin Luther King to Barack Obama: How the Civil Rights Movement changed American politics

This gala event was sponsored by Nation Magazine, the Democratic National Convention, the Denver Public Library and PBS, (both the English and Spanish speaking stations). The featured speaker was Congressman John Conyers.

Amram's musical contributions included his Three Songs for America, settings of speeches by John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy for bass voice and orchestra, written 40 years ago for PBS.

He also conduced the Colorado Children's Chorus in three compositions for children's chorus which he composed, both the words and the music, dedicated to actor Floyd Red Crow Westerman, jazz innovator Thelonious Monk and ambassador of Afro-Cuban music, band leader Machito.

The evening ended with his "Theme and Variations on Amazing Grace" followed by the grand finale with his trio playing Now's the Time by Charlie Parker.