Customer Reviews

The Sound That Jazz Makes

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This book is excellent and captures children's imaginations. I used this book to enhance my Jazz History/Improvisation unit and the students couldn't stop asking me question about it. They all wanted to know if it was in the library. It provides a short, rhythmic, simplistic story of the journey of jazz from Africa to today. A definite MUST HAVE!

"This is Africa where rhythm abounds/and music springs from nature sounds,/played on a drum carved from a tree/that grew in a forest of ebony." From the African jungle and slave ships, to Harlem, New Orleans, and even today's rappers, Carole Boston Weatherford introduces the sound that jazz makes. Her lyrical and engaging rhyming text is full of energy, motion, and passion, and beautifully complemented by award winning illustrator, Eric Velzsquez's vibrant and expressive oil paintings. Together they've authored a powerful and evocative feast for the ears and eyes that traces the roots and development of this unique and totally American musical art form. Perfect for youngsters 4-8, "JAZZ is a downbeat born in our nation,/chords of struggle and jubilation,/bursting forth from hearts set free/in notes that echo history./This is the sound that jazz makes!"

This book's words string together like a song without themusic. The pictures on the pages make you engrossed in the pages, andit feels like you could reach out and grab these images. This is one book you should most definitely read.

I used this book as an outline for my 3rd grade jazz unit. The illustrations are gorgeous and enhance the lyrical text that is both informative and a demonstration of jazz rhythm itself. We even used the locations mentioned or implied in the book to follow the path of jazz on a bulletin board map. I have hundreds of children's books that I use in the music classroom, but this is probably my number one favorite. The quality makes this a wonderful gift for a young music lover in your life.