Sam Baum & Guests at The Bronx Musical Hall Heritage Center, Bronx, New York City, USA.
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2026
More details
We have received the following press release regarding this event;
SPECIAL AUDIENCES AND MUSICIANS PRESENT A FREE CONCERT IN CELEBRATION OF AUSTISM PRIDE DAY
SPECIAL GUESTS DAVID AMRAM, BOBBY SANABRIA AND DAN BLOCK JOIN AUTISTIC PIANIST/COMPOSER SAM BAUM
TO PERFORM MUSIC FROM BAUM’S NEW ALBUM, FROM MY SHINY IMAGINATION
FEATURING THE SPECIAL AUDIENCES AND MUSICIANS JAZZ ENSEMBLE
JUNE 18 AT 4PM
THE BRONX MUSIC HALL HERITAGE CENTER
438 EAST 163RD STREET, BRONX
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
From My Shiny Imagination: Music by Sam Baum, showcases the exceptional talents of pianist and composer Sam Baum, a young adult on the autism spectrum, was released on April 3, in conjunction with World Autism Awareness Day, and National Autism Awareness Month, which is clebrated for the entire month of April.
Recorded January 4, 2026 at Old Soul Studio in Catskill, New York, the album presents a complete program of Baum’s original compositions.performed by the Special Audiences and Musicians Jazz Ensemble, with Baum on piano alongside violinist Lev Garfein, baritone saxophonist Sarah Turkiew, bassist Tony Ventura, guitarist and harmonica player Noe Socha, and conga player Braulio Thorne. Three guest artists appear on the session: Dan Block, a Juilliard-trained clarinetist and saxophonist who served as musical director; Bobby Sanabria, a Berklee-trained drummer, bandleader, and educator; and 95 year-old jazz statesman,composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram, who appears on penny whistle.
The recording is closely connected to Special Audiences and Musicians (SAM), the New York–based nonprofit organization founded in 2017 by trumpeter and educator Jeffrey Nussbaum, Baum’s father, and dedicated to supporting jazz musicians with disabilities. Through SAM, Nussbaum has built working jazz ensembles and presented performances in hospitals, senior centers, schools, residences for blind adults, and union venues across New York City and the surrounding region. Musicians are engaged on a paid, professional basis, with many performances contracted through the American Federation of Musicians’ Local 802.
Several members of the ensemble bring long personal and professional histories to the project. Socha, blind since infancy, has long anchored the group’s sound. “Noe has really big ears,” Nussbaum says. Turkiew, an autistic baritone saxophonist and composer, earns Nussbaum’s description as “a monster player.” Ventura, a New York–area bassist who contracted polio as a child, brings decades of experience as a working musician. Thorne, also blind, first sat in on congas through a SAM residency before joining the ensemble more formally. Garfein, who is on the autism spectrum, came to the project through pianist Fred Hersch’s circle.
Sanabria is explicit about the standard he brings to the project. “I don’t want people to look at this recording as some quirky kind of oddity,” he says. “I want it judged on its musical merits — good music, played by great musicians.”
Baum’s inimitable writing remains the throughline, shaped through repeated performance.
ABOUT SAM BAUM
Sam began to play jazz piano in 2005 when he was 13, and immediately it was clear that jazz was Sam’s language. Like many people on the autistic spectrum, Sam had never found the standard give and take of conversation easy or natural. Jazz improvisation, on the other hand, is where Sam is most clever, expressive, and naturally at home. Under the expert and caring guidance of his teachers, Trudy Silver, Danny Mixon, David Dormeus, Gary Dial, Dan Kaufman and Adam Rafferty, Sam has blossomed as a musician, becoming more and more skilled in the complex language of jazz improvisation and creating his own very expressive and personal style. Other notable musicians Sam has encountered on his short musical journey so far. Jimmy Owens, Reggie Workman,Robert Redd, John Jensen, Billy Taylor, Roni Ben-Hur, Jeff Warschauer, Gili Sharett, Tardo Hammer, Vinnie Martucci and Roswell Rudd, all of whom have all been helpful and deserve heartfelt thanks.
ABOUT SPECIAL AUDIENCES FOR MUSICIANS (SAM)
Special Audiences and Musicians, Inc. is a 501-C with a commitment to provide cultural enrichment by way of musical performances in nursing homes, hospitals, assisted-living homes, and other such institutions in New York and the Tri-State area, with musicians drawn from three under-represented groups; musicians with disabilities, senior musicians, and women. These three groups will occasionally be joined by other musicians. Special Audiences and Musicians, Inc. will provide a much needed service with musical performances in such institutions including nursing homes, hospitals, assisted-living homes, and other related institutions. The therapeutic, social and emotional benefits from live musical performance are well established. Utilizing musicians with disabilities, female musicians and senior musicians will provide valuable performance opportunities to those under-represented musicians who have much to offer in terms of artistic expression.
Sam Baum · From My Shiny Imagination · Special Audiences and Musicians
Release Date: April 3, 2026
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