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HIGHLIGHTS of DAVID AMRAM'S SUMMER SCHEDULE
On July 15th, David will be inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in Tulsa, receiving a lifetime achievement award.
That same evening David will also be heading an all-star jazz band in a Tribute Concert to his old friend and one of his first band leaders, the late legendary Oklahoma jazz bassist and cellist Oscar Pettiford, whom David played with from 1955 through 1957 while also recording three albums with Oscar. Along with Julius Watkins, David pioneered the use of French Horn as an improvising instrument in jazz, while jamming with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Miles and performing and recording with Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Mary Lou Williams, Betty Carter and Kenny Dorham, after his first recordings in Paris with Lionel Hampton in 1955. For the Pettiford big band, Oscar chose to use both Amram and Watkins in his Orchestra, to create a new sound with two French Horns. When David joined the Pettiford band in 1956, Oscar was already a renowned musician, who had introduced the cello into jazz music, and had played bass and cello throughout the 1940s with many of the great big band jazz orchestras of the era, including Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Ben Webster, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Barnett, Duke Ellington and Woody Herman. With Gillespie in 1943, Pettiford helped pioneer the be-bop sound. Beginning in 1950, Pettiford led his own big band and other ensembles until his death in 1960, with Cannonball Adderley as one of his most prominent discoveries.
While in Oklahoma, David will travel from Tulsa to Okemah on July 16th and 17th to honor another old friend Wood Guthrie, and perform at the Woody Guthrie Festival for the eighth time.
In early June, David performed and conducted a chamber orchestra at the Kerrville Festival in Texas, played at the Apollo Theater's 100th Anniversary Celebration of Latin Jazz and at Pete Seeger's Clearwater Festival in upstate New York.
Between now and October, David will also be Guest Composer at Queen's College Conductors Program (June 24 - 28); performing at the Putnam County Fair (July 30th); giving concerts of his chamber music and appearing at the Jane Pickens Theatre in Newport, Rhode Island for a screening of Lawrence Kraman's new feature documentary film "David Amram: The First 80 Years!" He is the featured artist for this year's Bridge Fest in Newport (August 2 - 4); then he will performing at Farm Aid as a guest artist with Willie Nelson and his band (August 13), the Philadelphia Folk Festival (August 19 - 21st); performing and lecturing at the Kerouac Fest in Wyndber, Pa (August 27th); Composer-in-Residence and performer at the MOAB Festival in Moab, Utah (August 29 - September 6th); performing his "Variations on Amazing Grace" to open up the 10th Anniversary Memorial the 9/11 Concert at Symphony Space, presented by the New York Chamber Music Festival (September 11th); performing as the soloist in his composition "In Memory of Chano Pozo" with the Shreveport Symphony Ochestra, and lecturing at Centenary College in Shreveport (September 18 - 25th); and performing as a soloist in his composition "Triple Concerto for woodwind, brass and jazz quintets and orchestra" with the Symphony Silicone Valley in San Jose, California (September 27 - October 2nd). In addition, he will be working on his fourth book and composing a new classical composition, when not touring the country.
Enjoy catching David along America's bi-ways!
Doug Yeager
David Amram's Manager
P.S. Don't forget that when he is within striking distance of New York, David still performs qith his quartet and guest artists the 1st Monday of the month at the Cornelia Street Cafe in New York's Greenwich Village.
Douglas A. Yeager Productions, Ltd.
300 West 55th Street, Ste. # 15E, New York, New York 10019
TEL: (212) 245-0240 / FAX: (212) 245-06576
SKYPE: DouglasYeager / EMAIL: yeagerprod@aol.com