Update, 2010.
Live on Stage: The Sounds of "This Jazz Man"
Finally! "This Jazz Man" will be released very soon on CD and cassette, and I'm lucky enough to have an advance copy from the publisher. Although author Ehrhardt and illustrator Roth painted a superb word-picture combo, the SOUND of those illustrious 10 Jazz men was absent from the mix. The audio version solves that creatively, not only with a superb --jazzy even--reading of the text by James "D Train" Williams (his enthusiastic but controlled narrative brims with the personalities of the musicians and their music), but with examples of the music by a very talented septet! You can hear the splash bomb drumming of Art Blakey, the lush grandeur of Duke Ellington, the boppish output of Mingus, Charlie "Bird" Parker, and Dizzy. These samplings, long enough to give one a real feeling for the style and sound, alternate with Williams' narration, and the sound effects (the hushed introduction of a mythical nightclub that helps identify the musician), the thunderous and very life-sounding applause) both mesh with and intensify the excitement of the book: You really feel like you're there!
The book/CD combination is as fine an example of immersion education as you'll hear, see, and especially feel. Like the book, the CD can be enjoyed at several levels of musical knowledge and cognitive development. Toddlers will enjoy the jazzy text and bright pictures (as well as learning the numbers from one to ten) accompanied by the synchronized CD (there is a brief page-turning sound to cue the parent, teacher, or designated student page-flipper to turn the page). Older elementary school kids can enjoy the same experience, or can listen to a second track that excludes the page-turn cue. Moreover, there is a third track with more information about jazz and the featured musicians. This is a rare opportunity to teach your child or your classroom that music is a living thing of beauty,color, and joy; a swinging endeavor that evolves with both artist and audience.
Note: Since writing the review below, I've discovered that "This Jazz Man" has received three (and counting) prestigious honors in the last month or so: A Nick Jr. Book of the Year for Children, one of the N.Y. Public Libraries Top 100 books to Read to Kids, and one of a very few named by National Public Radio as a best children's book of the year!
February 2007 Update: This Jazz Man is on the cover of the February "Crickets" magazine! In addition, it was shortlisted as a top book by the Cooperative Children's Book Center, and is being used as a teaching tool for a Smithsonian Museum (yes, that Smithsonian!) exhibit.
If you've bought this book, you and I share a certain nose for kids' books; if you haven't, you'll discover a book that's snappy and swinging, fun and informative. My original review follows.
"Doodly-doodly-Doot-doot! Toot-Toot!"
That's Karen Ehrhardt's delightful take on a Dizzy Gillespie trumpet line, and like the rest of this sparkling first book, every note rings joyous and true. In a somewhat daring move, Ms. Ehrhardt airs out the musty English poem, "This Old Man," with jazz-infused lyrics, and distills the essence of nine jazz giants: Louis Armstrong, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Chano Pozo, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charles Mingus.
The improvisations in "This Jazz Man" are authentic and fun--the text is made for reading out loud! Listen to this evocation of Charlie Parker, for example:
This jazz man, he plays five,
He plays bebop, he plays jive,
With a Deedle-di-bop! Bebop!
Give the man a hand,
This jazz man blows with the band.
Within the 5-line format of the original song, the author conveys the sound and spirit of these artists, while keeping the tone light and understandable for her young, perhaps jazz-naive audience (about 3 to 7 years-old). Along with each Jazz Man's stanza are the sounds and rhythms of his performance -- depicted in text incorporated with each illustration. When drummer Art Blakey "plays solos with his sticks" and "beats with the band," the percussive sounds "Chikka-chee! Chikka-chee! Bubbuda-bubbuda-bubbuda-BOMP!" pulse over his vibrating cymbals. Following the `performance,' older readers (and adults) can learn more about Blakey -- his innovation of the "press roll" and his role in nurturing new talent -- in the book's afterward. Riffing on the customary introductions of band members at jazz gigs ("Playing 4, form Washington, D.C... Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington"), the book briefly spotlights the life of each Jazz Man.
Illustrator R. G. Roth complements Ehrhardt's narrative pictures with multi-media illustrations that are playfully retro yet fresh and child-friendly. Airy compositions help children see the relaxed, expansive pose of the smiling Louis Armstrong, the verve and rhythmic creativity of "Chano" Pozo (how many times have you seen him in a jazz book for kids?), the playful attack of Fats Waller, and the stature and majesty of Charles Mingus. Roth displays a repertoire of textures and soft, engaging colors, and makes subtle references to Birdland, the Newport Jazz Festival, and other venues along the edges of book's `stage. For the small fry, a cute and playfully elusive mouse plays hide and seek throughout the book. "This Jazz Man" has an exhilarating finale -- after each man plays (1 through 9), all of the jazz icons appear on stage together:
This jazz band, they play ten,
We beg them to play again,
With an "Encore, we want more!"
Give them all a hand"
These jazz men make one great band!
"This Jazz Man" gets it right, rhymes it tight, and entertains without misrepresenting. (To put this achievement in context, too many kids' "jazz" books really focus on the blues--usually the rural blues, seen through an awkward sentimentalism--or solely on dance. Sometimes they confuse eras, portraying any jazz singer as a combination of Bessie Smith, post-WWII hep cats, and 1950's beats, with a dash of oddly misplaced 1970's styles.)
"This Jazz Man" is a natural for school or library audiences, rambunctious group singing, the first efforts of beginning readers, or as a bedtime treat for toddlers. One doesn't need to know one lick about jazz to enjoy the musicality of the rhymes and the understated but compelling jazz portraits: They stand on their own. In addition, teachers can easily adapt "This Jazz Man" to language units, numbers and counting, music appreciation, art, solo and group singing. Older students may delve further into the lives and times of the musicians through Ehrhardt's rich yet compact biographical sketches in the afterward. (Offhand, I can't think of any book--for kids or adults--that so succinctly and eloquently describes each musician's significance.) For readers who'd like to sample the actual music, Ehrhardt recommends recorded works for each Jazz Man: a couple tracks for each musician, and even two feature films (available on video) that display Bojangles' tapping talents. (Perhaps in future editions of this book, the publishers could include a companion CD/DVD.)
With apologies to the author--though inspired by her:
This jazz fan, I count one,
"This Jazz Man" is lots of fun!
With a smile and a nod and an "ain't that grand!"
Let's give Ehrhardt a great big hand!
