Sound That Jazz Makes by Carole Boston Weatherford, Eric Velasquez (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

A symphony of sound and color, The Sound That Jazz Makes is an eloquently rendered celebration of a remarkable heritage. Author Carole Boston Weatherford's lyrical stanzas combine with the power of luminous oil paintings by Coretta Scott King New Talent winner, Eric Velasquez (The Piano Man) to trace the development of jazz. From African forests to wooden slave ships to Harlem nightclubs, the tragic and joyous legacy of the African-American experience gives jazz its passion and spirit.

Children's Literature

This beautifully illustrated book takes a passionate look at the history and development of jazz music—from African savannas and slave ships to ragtime saloons and jazz clubs. Each two-page spread contains colorful, poignant oil paintings accompanied by touching, lyrical text. This resource accurately captures the wide array of emotions associated with the evolution of this unique art form—upbeat rain chants, somber slave songs, bouncy bar tunes, heartbreaking blues, thankful psalms, and swinging bebops. Jazz is as American as apple pie, and young music lovers everywhere will enjoy learning about the legacy behind one of today's most popular forms of music—hiphop. This wonderful introduction to jazz shows children how this special brand of music evolved and continued to reinvent itself throughout the decades. The author and illustrator should be proud of their efforts to create an effective and memorable publication. 2000, Walker & Company, $16.95. Ages 5 to 9. Reviewer: Debra Briatico

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-This book traces the evolution of jazz in a poem of four-line stanzas that begins with an African drum beat and ends with a rapper who still hears "-the age-old, far-off beat/of Africa drumming on every street." Each stanza accompanies a full-spread oil painting outlined with a crayon line and bordered in white. On many pages, one figure-an African kalimba player, a Delta bluesman, etc.-is featured in front of the painting, breaking the frame and extending into the white space below. The animated African animals and dancers depicted in warm golds and browns contrast sharply with the still figures and somber tones of the scenes on slave ships and in plantation fields. These, too, contrast with the bright colors and movement of the cakewalkers, gospel singers, and swing and bebop musicians with their arms or instruments lifted joyously upward. The final illustration of a young African-American trumpet player with his family against a background that incorporates many elements from the previous paintings is a satisfying synthesis of both the visual and written elements of the book: "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!" Although some of the rhymes don't scan as well as others, this is still an especially attractive, satisfying pictorial introduction to and celebration of this unique American musical form.-Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Kirkus Reviews

A brief history of African American music told in rhyme and dramatically rendered oils. Weatherford tells her story in rhymed couplets, perhaps an unfortunate choice to render so vibrant an art form. The rhymes tend to be clunky: tree / ebony; whines / hard times; rocked / flock; as they move from music sprung from the sounds of nature in Africa—the drum and the kalimba—to slave ships and auctions, and people singing of freedom in the fields. The blues, the cakewalk, gospel and swing take us to Duke and Calloway, and finally to rap and hiphop. Velasquez's oils have a flair for the sweeping gesture or crucial moment: a family running to freedom raise their eyes to the night sky for guidance; a grizzled banjo player and a blues man are seen lit from below; paintings of Lady Day, Ella Fitzgerald and other greats are based on wellknown photographs. There are numerous picture books for young people that cover this territory with more energy and delight; most notably i see the rhythm (1998). (Picture book. 58)

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