LIVE: David Amram Trio @ The Falcon, 2/5/17

Review & photographs by Rudy Lu

How can one summarize a musical career that spans more than 60 years, including collaborations with such legends as Jack Keruoac, Pete Seeger and Leonard Bernstein as well as composing symphonies, conducting the New York Philharmonic, writing soundtracks for such classic films as “Splendor in the Grass” and “The Manchurian Candidate” and playing jazz French horn with such giants as Charlie Mingus, Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie? (And this is only a partial list…)

You really can’t, but a great attempt was made at David Amram’s recent performance at The Falcon in Marlboro.

Amram played piano as well as various musical instruments, along with his trio featuring Kevin Twigg (drums, glockenspiel) and his son Adam Amram (percussion).

“Pull My Daisy” was a 1959 short film by Jack Keruoac for which Amram provided the music. At The Falcon, Amram recited the poetry.

Woody Guthrie’s “Pastures of Plenty,” a song detailing the plight of migrant workers, was performed in a blues-like manner, featuring Amram playing a Hulusi, a Chinese woodwind instrument that he has trotted out on other occasions.

“Part-time madmen, full-time gent” was how Amram described Hunter Thompson. Some poetry was recited based upon the late Thompson’s brief stay in the Catskills working for a newspaper in Middletown before his “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” days. That performance was ended with “My Old Kentucky Home” (as Thompson was a native Kentuckian).

Stating that “art is an open door,” Amram invited poet Mike Jurkovic to the stage to recite beat poetry to the accompaniment of the band, and actress Suzanne Hays was invited to provide a dramatic reading to music.

Protest singer Phil Ochs was remembered with a performance of his song “When I’m Gone.”

The encore was a song that I remember Amram almost always playing back in the ’70s, “Good Night, Irene,” as all of the performers, including drummer Lee Falco, were called to the stage.

Accomplished singer-songwriter Jacob Bernz performed the opening set with a guest performance by his father David.

GO HERE to see more of Rudy Lu’s photographs of this concert…