from Vibrations (2001)

"It was there [the Hôtel des Ètats Unis] that I first met George Plimpton, Terry Southern and what was known as The Paris Review group. At the time I didn’t even know that they were writers or remember that The Paris Review was where I had read the Styron interview. They were all there because they loved spontaneous jazz and were having a good time. We all used to hang together, having a ball almost every night of the week."
—p. 187

"Terry Southern had returned from Paris a little after I did and had brought the copy I had given him of the jazz record I had made with Bobby Jaspar. On it were some of my compositions, one of which was a favorite of his, "The Birds of Montparnasse." I had used flute, harpsichord, French horn, bass and drums. He liked it so much that he played it for Al Avakian, a film editor and an old Parisian expatriate like us.

Terry called me. "What’s happening, mon vieux?"
"Rien, Terry. Je suis wased."

I went over to see Terry at Al’s house. Al liked the record and had already taped it himself. We spent the night reminiscing about Paris and old friends there. Terry told me not to feel blue. He was wasted himself."
—p. 239

"My spirits were soaring in spite of my sinking finances because of a girl I had met a few days before at a party at George Plimpton’s, where I was playing the piano. I had gone to many of George’s parties since I came back from Paris. A lot of people that I had known there still hung out with George. He had known me since I played at the Hôtel des Ètats Unis and was always for real. I’d been talking to Terry Southern about how Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane were going in one direction, while Miles Davis and Bill Evans were doing something else. Terry always loved jazz and knew a lot about it."
—p. 394

David Amram on the web:
www.davidamram.com