About the Special Audiences and Musicians Jazz Ensemble

Sam Baum was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3 and exhibited many of the typical difficulties that autism brings. He began piano studies at the age of 10, but when he first encountered jazz at the age of 13, a creative explosion occurred. Sam absorbed the jazz vocabulary and repertoire at an amazing rate, developing a wonderful improvisational sense and memory of a wide range of tunes. His formal jazz studies furthered this process, and he began playing professionally.

Sam’s musical development helped with many other areas of his emotional and intellectual development. Sam has had the opportunity to play with such jazz luminaries as George Coleman, Jimmy Owens, Bobby Sanabria, Peter Bernstein, and Murray Wall. Sam also plays klezmer music. Special Audiences and Musicians Jazz Ensemble has recorded three albums of Sam’s original compositions: The Compositions of Sam Baum, More Tunes by Sam Baum and From My Shiny Imagination: Tunes by Sam Baum.

Lev Garfein (violin) was born in 2002. He attended high school at the Cooke School and Institute in New York City and is currently enrolled at Winston Transitions, a transitional program to help special education students gain workplace skills. He began music therapy at age 3 at the Nordoff-Robbins Center at NYU, and it changed his life.

Lev began playing violin at age 8 and now enjoys performing in many different styles: jazz, folk, rock, Irish and klezmer. His current teachers include Melissa Tong (classical and blues), Sara Caswell (jazz) and Jacob Shulman-Ment (klezmer). Lev has performed professionally as a soloist with Grammy Award-winning folk artists Dan and Claudia Zanes, most recently at the 2022 Brooklyn Folk Festival. Other appearances include children’s artist Mr. G, ActionPlay New York and the School of Rock Brooklyn scholarship rock band.

Lev has sung in choruses and played in orchestras most of his life. He was a member of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus from age 7 to 18, and he still performs with the ISO Orchestra of New York. Lev loves the music of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, David Bowie, David Byrne, Beethoven and Stravinsky. He is a strong believer in the concept of neurodiversity: that everyone can make a unique contribution to the world, even if they think differently from other people.

Tony Ventura was born in the Hell’s Kitchen section of Manhattan and, as a young child, suffered from polio. He first studied classical guitar, but at the age of 18, he became captivated by the idea that great music is only as good as the foundation it rests upon: the bedrock, the underpinnings, the bottom — in fact, the bass.

So, he took up the bass, both upright and bass guitar. This began his long and fertile career as the heartbeat of many different bands with many different styles of music, including jazz, funk, rock, blues, R&B, Latin and world music. Tony studied at City College with legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter and earned his B.A. in music. This, along with his union card, gave him the credentials to get work in many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, such as Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Tony and Tina’s Wedding, Godspell and others.

If you are a Sopranos fan and remember the episode in which Nancy Sinatra sings, you may well recognize Tony as the bassist standing beside her. He also has many TV and film credits to his name, including Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men, Lipstick Jungle and the Disney movie Enchanted. He often gets calls to play with classic rock acts like Jay and the Americans, Bobby Rydell, Darlene Love and The Dixie Cups. Tony has played with jazz guitarists Melvin Sparks and Shinobu Itgo, and with jazz saxophonist Junior Cook.

Blind since infancy, Noé Socha is a Brooklyn-based guitar and harmonica player originally from the small town of Carpi, Italy. He is influenced by folk artists such as Bob Dylan and Neil Young, Delta blues musicians such as Mississippi John Hurt, Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins, plus a hint of Hendrix-esque flavor. Noé has created his own signature sound, pairing fiery guitar technique with virtuosic harmonica playing.

After winning several awards at Berklee College of Music, including the Jimi Hendrix Award for the college’s leading guitarist and the Billboard Magazine Endowed Scholarship, presented to the college’s top student, Noé has had the great honor of touring, performing and recording with artists such as Nona Hendryx (Labelle), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), and Grammy Award-winners Javier Limón and Paula Cole. Noé has been a member of the Special Audiences and Musicians Jazz Ensemble since its inception.

Baritone saxophonist Sarah Turkiew is a savant with perfect pitch, a photographic memory and a true passion for jazz improvisation. She can sight-read Charlie Parker and John Coltrane solos. Sarah is autistic. Her main instrument is the baritone saxophone, with which she is gaining attention for her captivating jazz improvisations.

Sarah graduated from Nassau Community College with honors, majoring in music performance, and is the recipient of the prestigious SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. Ms. Turkiew is a member of International Women in Jazz and is an advocate and role model for young people with autism. Sarah is the most recent member of the Special Audiences and Musicians Jazz Ensemble and is featured on their latest album, From My Shiny Imagination: Tunes by Sam Baum.

A native of Panama City, Panama, percussionist Braulio Thorne has been a member of the Special Audiences and Musicians Jazz Ensemble for the past several years. His musical career began at the age of 4 at a folkloric presentation on TV. Both grandmothers played music and inspired Braulio to follow in that path. He began to lose his sight at around the age of 13.

Braulio came to the United States in 1976 and continued his studies in music. He has taught at the Lighthouse Music School for the Blind and the Daniel’s Music Foundation. He has performed with Tito Puente, Hector Lavoe and many others.

Guest Artists

SAM is thrilled to have had three special guest artists contribute to their third album, From My Shiny Imagination: Tunes by Sam Baum: Dan Block, Bobby Sanabria and David Amram.

Ninety-five-year-old David Amram started his professional life in music as a French hornist in the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., in 1951. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1954, he moved to New York City in 1955 and played French horn in the legendary jazz bands of Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Thelonious Monk and Oscar Pettiford.

In 1957, Amram created and performed in the first-ever jazz/poetry readings in New York City with novelist Jack Kerouac, a close friend with whom Amram collaborated artistically for over 12 years. Since the early 1950s, he has traveled the world extensively, working as a musician and conductor in over 35 countries, including Cuba, Kenya, Egypt, Pakistan, Israel, Latvia and China. He also regularly crisscrosses the United States and Canada.

Amram composed the scores for many films, including Pull My Daisy (1959), Splendor in the Grass (1960) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). He composed the scores for Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park from 1956 to 1967 and premiered his comic opera Twelfth Night, with Papp’s libretto, in 1968. He also wrote a second opera, The Final Ingredient: An Opera of the Holocaust, for ABC Television in 1965.

From 1964 to 1966, Amram was the composer and music director for the Lincoln Center Theatre and wrote the scores for Arthur Miller’s plays After the Fall (1964) and Incident at Vichy (1966). Appointed by Leonard Bernstein as the first composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic in 1966, he is now one of the most performed and influential composers of our time.

A native of St. Louis, Dan Block took up the saxophone just short of his 14th birthday and clarinet the following year. An indelible memory was hearing Eubie Blake at the St. Louis Ragtime Festival and being exposed to John Coltrane in the same week. Classical music and the great American Songbook standards were constantly being played in his home, and he was influenced by both.

While at Juilliard, pursuing a degree in clarinet, Block divided his time between jam sessions in the New York loft scene and orchestral and chamber music at school. He participated in Charles Mingus’ final recording project, Something Like a Bird and Me, Myself an Eye. Playing alongside Charles McPherson, Pepper Adams and the Brecker Brothers was transformative, while playing in the Juilliard Orchestra under the baton of such luminaries as Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta and Georg Solti provided a contrasting perspective.

Dan Block became a member of Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, and it was there that he found the common denominator between Haitian music and traditional jazz. He was a member of Marty Grosz’s band, recording five CDs with that ensemble. He has played in many big bands, including those led by Maria Schneider, Toshiko Akiyoshi, David Berger, Ken Peplowski and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Among the many musicians he has played and recorded with are Tom Harrell, Frank Wess, Jack McDuff, Richard Wyands, Jerry Dodgion and Scott Robinson. Dan Block teaches in the jazz division of the Juilliard School.

Bobby Sanabria is a seven-time Grammy nominee as a leader. He is a noted drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, producer, educator, documentary filmmaker and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent, born and raised in New York’s South Bronx.

He has performed with Mario Bauzá, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Paquito D’Rivera, Ray Barretto, Roswell Rudd, David Amram and many others. Bobby Sanabria is on the faculty of the New School and Manhattan School of Music. He has a radio show on WBGO.

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Special Audiences and Musicians, Inc

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Special Audiences and Musicians
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