Vibrations: A Memoir

by David Amram, Douglas Brinkley (Foreword)

The Boston Globe has described David Amram as "the Renaissance man of American music." Amram and Jack Kerouac collaborated on the first-ever Jazz poetry reading in New York City in 1957 as well as the subsequent legendary film "Pull My Daisy" in 1959, which combined Amram's jazz and chamber music and Kerouac's narration. Not only part of what came to be known as the Beat generation, Amram has also composed over 100 orchestral and chamber works, written two operas, and has collaborated with such notables as Leonard Bernstein, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus, Dustin Hoffman, Thelonius Monk, Willie Nelson, Betty Carter, Odetta, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, and Tito Puente. This edition includes a new introduction by the author and a new foreword by Douglas Brinkley

Genres: Music, History, Biography, Jazz

480 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 1971

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and free-wheeling memoir of a young, bohemian composer come from the farm country of Pennsylvania to the big city, becomes the first composer for Shakespeare in the Park under Joe Pabst, the first composer in residence at the NY Phil under Leonard Bernstein, and hangs with some of the greatest literary figures of his time way before any of them had ever made it big. It is a very fun adventure to experience through Amram’s gregarious narrative style.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite honestly it has been a few years since I read David's book, but what I remember mostly is that it had a profound impact on me as a young musician living in New York City back in the day. The book is filled to the brim with stories including living in the East Village when it was a central base for artists, jamming with Charlie Mingus, accompanying Jack Kerouac during the core years of the Beat movement, being an integral part of the folk community, and, at the same time, being the first composer in residence for the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein.

The book covers the first 37 years of his life (1930-1967) but in it, through David's wonderful narrative style, we are able to travel back to those moments in the '50s and '60s and see a man dedicated to music as an art form and living every day to better himself not only as a musician, but as a man and his love of our global community.

One of the best autobiographies I have ever read!

[Alli Lubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Amram, my longtime friend, has written a wonderful memoir! His memory for the details of his life journey is incredible! The many stories are recounted here for us to relish. Vibrations by David Amram is a thoroughly entertaining historical chronicle of the life of a premier composer and truly soulful musician of our time. (on page 100 of 502)