Highlights In Jazz Presents A Salute To David Amram

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Jack Kleinsinger's Highlights In Jazz, New York's longest running jazz concert series, proudly continues its 45th season at 8:00 PM on Thursday, March 9, 2017 at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, NYC with A Salute To David Amram, featuring the renowned award winning multi-instrumentalist composer/conductor and his quartet with drummer Kevin Twigg, bassist René Hart and percussionist Adam Amran, joined by NEA Jazz Master alto saxophonist/clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera, distinguished trombonist Earl McIntyre, veteran pianist Norman Simmons and Multi Grammy Award nominee, drummer/percussionist Bobby Sanabria, plus, as in all Highlights In Jazz concerts, a surprise special guest.

Versatile multi-instrumentalist/composer David Amram will be honored as this year's recipient of the Annual Highlights In Jazz Award, which has been presented every year since 1974 to honor a singular living jazz musician for their "matchless musical achievements." Kleinsinger is proud to add Amram, who he calls a genius, to the auspicious list of Highlights In Jazz Award winners, which includes the likes of Roy Eldridge, Zoot Sims, Lionel Hampton, Roy Haynes, Hank Jones, Dr. Billy Taylor and Frank Wess, pointing to the multitalented instrumentalist/composer's numerous achievements in both jazz and classical music, in addition to his success as an Academy Award winning film scorer.

Amram says, "It is heart warming and a thrill to receive this honor from Highlights in Jazz. Past performers and honorees Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie were mentors to me over 60 years ago and recent honoree Paquito D'Rivera is a musician who inspires me every time I play with him. Paquito is a national treasure." D'Rivera says in turn, "David Amram is an ideal example of eclecticism and open mind musically speaking. He is one of a kind!"

Amram also has high praise for the other artists who will be feting him at this special event. "Norman Simmons, " he says, "remains a role model over the decades, as a brilliant artist who reminds all of us of how to achieve the highest goal in music and life … that in addition to playing beautifully, we must always strive to make everyone else sound and feel better, as he always does! And Earl McIntyre is not only a world-class musical artist. He is one of the finest musical educators in the country and continues to spread the light around the world, helping it to discover the lasting values of jazz. Bobby Sanabria is a one man ambassador for all genres of Latin music and able to create ensembles and make a new generation comfortable and conversant in understanding the deep spiritual relationship of jazz and the infinite variety of music South of the border."

Sanabria proclaims, "David Amram is our modern day Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, and Don Ellis, all rolled into one. I've never met a musician that has so much positive energy for his fellow human being, on or off the bandstand. And to top it off, whether it's him conducting one of his large scale symphonic works, jammin' on a blues, or just getting heavy on the mambo, he's comfortable and virtuosic in any setting. I'm always proud and honored to be in his company."

D'Rivera, McIntyre, Simmons and Sanabria will be joining the trio of drummer Kevin Twigg, bassist René Hart and Amram's son, percussionist Adam Amram. The elder Amram says, "They have played constantly with me from concert halls in Europe to street festivals in New York. No matter where, when or with who, they always make the music the star."

All Highlights In Jazz concerts also feature a surprise special guest, chosen from among the music's finest players. Some of the biggest stars in jazz who have appeared as guests in previous years have been Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Savion Glover, Earl Hines, Branford Marsalis, Carmen McRae, Gerry Mulligan, George Shearing, Dr. Billy Taylor, Frank Wess and many others.

The 45th season of Highlights In Jazz continues on April 14, 2017 with Women In Jazz, featuring Cynthia Sayer and her Joyride Band with clarinetist Adrian Cunningham, bassist Mike Weatherly and drummer/washboard percussionist Larry Eagle and vocalist René Marie and her trio pianist John Chin, bassist Elias Bailey and drummer Quentin Baxter and International Women in Jazz Youth in Action Award Winner Leonieke Scheuble.

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