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. "To do justice to the extraordinary depth and breadth of the art of the incomparable David Amram, one would need an encyclopedia--but this amazing book comes close. In essays of musicians from all over the globe a mosaic of this polymath emerges in vivid color. From chamber music to folk songs, from opera to the Jewish tradition, from jazz to Afro-Cuban culture, David’s music glows with absolute genius and his radiant love of humanity. A beautiful must-read volume, brilliantly curated by Dean Birkenkamp." ―JoAnn Falletta, Grammy Award-winning Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Praise for David Amram: "Amram is a one-man folk festival…who was multicultural before multiculturalism existed." ―The New York Times "Amram dazzled with his versatility .... One could be but awed by his range." ―The London Times "David Amram is a musical catalyst and leader on a par with Leonard Bernstein, Pete Seeger, and Dizzy Gillespie." ―Minneapolis Star & Tribune "A Godsend to those who believe in the power of music to change lives and inspire." ―Wynton Marsalis "David Amram is one of the most versatile and skilled musicians America has ever produced." ―Washington Post "David Amram is the Renaissance man of American music ." ―The Boston Globe "Truly American music. Amram, through his genius has built a marvelous musical tapestry, full of wonderful sounds and colors." ―Eugene Ormandy "David Amram is a man of great humanity, wisdom, and generosity. A great story- teller. His music is magic. It takes you to another universe." ―Barbara Kopple, Academy Award-winning film maker {Amram has} engaged with almost every identifiable genre – jazz, folk, rock, country, blues, Latin, the many variants of native America, to name only some. This composer’s lifelong romance with music of all colours, creeds and cultures has been a passionate affair. It has seen him promiscuously cross-fertilise the sounds of every continent in a simmering pot of melody and lyric, rhythm and rhyme, and I think Dean Birkenkamp’s engrossing, many-layered overview does fine justice to this many-faceted man and his diverse attainments. ―Simon Warner, Research Fellow, University of Leeds, U. K., in Rock and Beat Generation 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 .