Today

The Village Trip GuitarFest:
Ah, Let’s go Back to the Village

St John’s in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United States

Celebrate the Jack Kerouac centenary with the world premiere of David Amram’s Ah, Let’s Go Back to the Village, a chamber music composition commissioned by The Village Trip and based on text from Kerouac’s book Lonesome Traveler. Tilted Axes – twenty electric guitars – kick off this unique guitar extravaganza. There follows a program of South American guitar music, and twenty classical guitarists wrap up, joining David Amram, who will jam on his score for the Robert Frank film Pull My Daisy.

$15 – $20

Classical Jack: Chamber Music Which Inspired Kerouac and Music Inspired by Him

St John’s in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United States

Musically as important as Beethoven,
Yet not regarded as such at all
So wrote Jack Kerouac in the 240th chorus of Mexico City Blues, speaking of Charlie “Bird” Parker, whom he regarded as the perfect musician. But Jack’s love of jazz did not diminish his great love for classical music and his knowledge of it. His innate musicianship, of course explains the music of his prose, and his ability to improvise words to music, as he did with his old friend David Amram. The program will include works by J.S. Bach, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, and Amram performed by a group of distinguished musicians: pianist Yoshiko Kline, saxophonist Ken Radnofsky, and violist Consuelo Sherba.

$15 – $20

Children of the American Bop (and Mambo) Night!

The Public Theater at Joe's Pub 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), NY, United States

Jack Kerouac's legendary status as the leading voice of the Beat writers was cemented with his seminal work, On the Road. Published in 1957, the same year West Side Story debuted on Broadway and Sputnik launched into space. David Amram and Bobby Sanabria will perform jazz and Latin classics of the 1950s that influenced Kerouac and an entire generation. The show will also include brief readings from On the Road with music, just as Kerouac and Amram pioneered jazz-poetry in New York in 1957.

$25

On the Road Reading with Music

The Strand: The Rare Book Room 828 Broadway at 12th Street, NY, United States

A recording of the livestream is available to buy.
A diverse cast including Stephanie Berry, Kevin Corrigan, John Doman, Marsha Mason, Dael Orlandersmith, Mercedes Ruehl, Jose Rivera, and John Ventimiglia read excerpts from Jack Kerouac’s classic novel accompanied by a jazz quartet led by the legendary David Amram and directed by David Deblinger. Produced in collaboration with HB Studio.

$10 – $20

Sixty-five Joyous Years in the Village, from Kerouac, Mingus, Monk, and Jackson Pollock to the New Voices of Today: Walking Tour with David Amram

Washington Square Arch at Fifth Avenue & Washington Square North NY, United States

A truly unique opportunity to join Village Trip Artist Emeritus David Amram on a walk through his colorful life. David has known them all, played with them all – among them Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Oscar Pettiford, and Pete Seeger.

$35 – $40

Jack Kerouac: Then and Now

Jefferson Market Library 425 6th Avenue, NY, United States

As part of the festival’s Jack Kerouac 100 celebrations, a distinguished panel—Holly George-Warren, Joyce Johnson, Anne Waldman, and David Amram - will reflect on aspects of the writer’s life in New York City generally and the Village in particular and discuss his enduring legacy.

Free

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