From School Library Journal
Gr 4-7-The primary focus of these slim volumes is to place their musical genre in historical context. The first half of each book provides information on how the style or styles are rooted in African music, civilization, and culture. They refer to the journey made by certain traditions across the Atlantic with the slave trade and their metamorphosis into jazz and rap. Since these forms of music had their beginnings in the same culture, some of the information, such as the importance of the drum in African music, is presented in both books. The second half of each title recounts the evolution of these genres in America, with an emphasis on the major figures. Rap discusses its artists chronologically with one chapter focusing on the art of the MC. Jam! groups musicians according to jazz style. Both books include a full-color or black-and-white photo, reproduction, or drawing on each page. Rap covers much of the same material as K. Maurice Jones's Say It Loud! (Millbrook, 1994), but is more up-to-date. Readers looking for an overview of the history of jazz will be better served by James Lincoln Collier's Jazz (Holt, 1997), which is broader in scope.-Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ
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