Remembering Pete Seeger
At The Tilles Center Nov. 20
On Nov. 20, at 7 p.m., producer Jason Samel of Movement Music Records in association with Love Revolution and Gold Coast Arts Center presents, “David Amram’s 84th Birthday Concert: Remembering Pete Seeger” at The Hillwood Recital Hall At Tilles Center on campus at LIU Post, 720 Northern Blvd, Brookville. Net proceeds will benefit the 501 (c)(3) Gold Coast Arts Center, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the arts through education, exhibition, performance and outreach.
“I was asked to produce a concert for the Gold Coast Arts Center that would be in remembrance of the late Pete Seeger, who was, and in spirit still is, a patriarch of folk music and activism,” says Samel, who also holds the position as vice president of the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce. “I had previously been a co-producer of a five-day music festival over the summer called ‘Seeger Fest’ with Pete Seeger’s grandson Kitama Cahill- Jackson, and Harry Belafonte’s daughter Gina Belafonte, so the arts center knew I had some experience doing so. One of the first artists I called to see if he wanted to be a part was David Amram, and the dates I had available from the venues just happened to be right around his birthday. So we thought it would be a good idea to combine a birthday concert for David while remembering a dear friend of us all, Pete Seeger. Every artist on the bill has shared the stage with Pete and David, as a requirement for an artist to be asked to play the concert.”
He says that folks should expect to hear some amazing folk, jazz, and blues music that speaks to many issues that society struggles with. With performances from legends like Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary, three-time Grammy award winning artist Tom Chapin as well as his daughters The Chapin Sisters, indy artist Garland Jeffreys, bluesman Guy Davis, David Amram and his sextet will bless us with his many stories and music ranging from jazz, to classical, to blues, female Folk powerhouse and activist Holly Near with Emma’s Revolution, as well as many more. Folks will also experience collaborations between the many artists on the bill all leading up to a wonderful finale with everyone in attendance involved. He says they are also really excited that John Platt of WFUV will be hosting the concert.
This family of musicians feels honored to mark David Amram’s 84th birthday with a celebration of the life of their mutual friend, Pete Seeger, says Samel. In years past these musicians would regularly be found sharing the stage with Seeger. They continue to share the stage with him through remembrance and acknowledgement of his spirit’s presence in all their music and activism.
Seeger is credited as a great organizer and musician who blazed a path for so many by indelibly linking his music and activism; he brought songs like “Guantanamera” and “Wimoweh” to the United States and turned the traditional song “I Will Overcome” to “We Shall Overcome” and then taught it to Dr. Martin Luther King.
Samel says the idea for the concert was sparked by social consciousness.
“All of the albums and concerts I produce speak to the 99 percent and the many social and environmental issues we all face as a community. I had previously produced an award winning album called Occupy This Album, which featured 99 artists who all created music which spoke about important issues. Some of the artists that were involved in that album were some of the greatest folk musicians on the globe, so when I produce concerts, these are some of the same folks I look to work with time and time again. Because they ‘get it’!”
David Amram is an American composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and author. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz (including being one of the first to improvise jazz on the French horn), folkloric and world music has led him to work with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Willie Nelson, Langston Hughes, Leonard Bernstein, Sir James Galway, Tito Puente, Mary Lou Williams, Arthur Miller, Stan Getz, Pete Seeger, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan and many others. Today, as he has for more than 70 years, Amram continues to compose music while traveling the world as a conductor, soloist, bandleader, visiting scholar, and narrator in five languages.
Samel, who lives in Great Neck, has a 3-year-old son who has taken music classes at the Gold Coast Arts Center.
“They foster music and arts education by giving scholarships to deserving kids for free classes at the arts center,” he says. “The arts center has a very open and progressive culture. They are open to the ideals that I work to further, including arts education, a deep social consciousness, and they even have a program that they run which gives lesser known artists big opportunities to showcase their work and receive support from some big players in the music industry. Every concert or album I produce combines artists who have won Grammys to folks that not so many have heard of before. For me it’s all about taking the light that shines so brightly on well known artists and redirecting it onto some up and coming artists who may otherwise never have the opportunities we present to them.”
Tickets for the show are $55 in advance and can be purchased by visiting www.movementmusicrecords.com. There is also a VIP meet and greet with the performers available for an additional $45.
For more information about Hillwood Hall at the Tilles Center an LIU CW Post, visitwww.tillescenter.org and www.wcwp.org. For more information about the Gold Coast Arts Center, visit www.goldcoastarts.org.
