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Jazz on a Saturday Night

Book Summary

Reviewed byPatricia Tauzer
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.

Is It Any Good?

5
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.

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