Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that kids will be drawn in by this exciting rhyming introduction to "America's classical music" and its pioneers. Notes and a CD are included to help readers get started on their journey into sound and rhythm.
Families can talk about jazz as an art form, the various instruments played, and the eight jazz pioneers, all of whom play together on one magical night in this book. Once they have read the book a couple of times, readers can listen to the CD that will give sound and further explanation to what they have read. They might talk about the instruments they like best, which one they might like to play, or at least learn more about.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Patricia Tauzer
Inspired by their life-long love of jazz, illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon have put together their dream team of musicians to create "an evening of jazz immortality." In be-bopping language and poster-like illustrations, they capture the excitement and energy that such a session might create. Anyone new to the jazz form, or even the veteran, is sure to catch their enthusiasm.
In a perfectly balanced collage of sound and sight, jazz comes alive in award-winning artwork. Painted in what might be called a graphic style, some scenes focus on the musicians themselves, who with eyes closed, seem to be playing or singing from the soul. Others show an audience whose members are jumping, jiving, and otherwise pulled into the captivating music that flows around them like "a river of melody sketched in dim light." Everyone is having a good time, and the reader will, too. True to form, the Dillons have created another masterpiece to join the other award-winning books in their oeuvre.
From The Book
Spotlight's on! The announcer sweeps into sight.
"You're in for a session of magic tonight!
Ladies and gents, what a jam this will be--
an evening of jazz immortality!"
Plot Summary:
On one fictional Saturday night, eight great jazz musicians get together for an evening of be-bopping magic. Each one, from Miles Davis to Ella Fitzgerald, in his or her turn, jumps in to the mix, and before long the whole room is feeling the beat.
Related Books:
More Jazz Reads:
Uptown by Bryan Collier
Rap-a-Tap-Tap by Diane and Leo Dillon
The Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub
I See the Rhythm by Toyomi Igus
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra by Andrea Pinkney
Ella Fitzgerald by Andrea Pinkney
Charlie Parker Played Be Bop by Chris Raschka
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