When composer David Amram walked onstage for his performance as part of Steppenwolf Theatre’s multifaceted Traffic series, he was clad in what may be his trademark. A necklace of wooden beads and gourds hung over his navy blazer and conservative tie. But since Amram’s long career has been based on embracing contrasting cultural strains, his garb carried more significance than merely conjuring the era of dashikis and platform shoes.
Amram has been dreaming up musical connections and hybrids for more than 40 years. Ambitious, spirited, and open-eared, it would be hard to find an idiom that he has not plumbed. He uses ideas and instruments from the indigenous American, Asian, and African realms, as well as the European classical repertoire. He played French horn alongside legendary jazz bassist Charles Mingus, and cinephiles know him for scores to “Splendor in the Grass” and “The Manchurian Candidate.” On Monday night, as he led and performed alongside Chicago guitarist Fareed Haque, poet Reggie Gibson, and others, Amram showed he is quite comfortable in the Midwest.
If the purpose of the Traffic series has been to combine different disciplines such as music and the spoken word, then Amram’s own articulate and funny introductions fulfilled this intention. According to Amram, Thelonious Monk and Antonin Dvorak could have had a dialogue. Amram also kicked off the traditional Nile River melody “Aya Zehn” with the chipper, “Gee whiz, how come they haven’t played anything from Egypt?”
Such recollections and attitude revealed that Amram was happier to show how what he’s experienced shaped his music rather than act as a purveyor of multicultural authenticity. Amram’s use of his fist as a French horn mute on “Blue Monk” has more to do with Miles Davis than the baroque. The sense of wonder that Amram must have felt when he learned about the Sioux wooden flute came across when he played the instrument on “Lakota Rabbit Dance Song.”
Amram also chose to remain in the background, shifting the focus to other musicians he met on his journeys. He played percussion alongside drummer Fred Selvagio while pianist Yoko Yomada and trumpeter David Miller performed his “Travels for Trumpet and Orchestra.” That piece drew on southwestern themes, 12-bar blues, and Middle Eastern modes. Tabla player Sandip Burman took center stage while Haque delved into the sitar and directed an audience clap-a-long.
The most bracing guest of the evening was Gibson, who recited verses from Amram’s 1950s colleague, Jack Kerouac, as well as poet Sonia Sanchez. As Amram played supporting piano chords or subdued wooden flute, Gibson’s crescendos were remarkable. His delivery of Kerouac’s praise for jazz history and of America itself showed how much has endured from that Beat-era partnership.
