Jazz

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MaryAnn Karre, Horace Mann Elementary School, Binghamton, NY -- School Library Journal, 3/14/2008

Jazz. cassette or CD. 43:02 min. with hardcover book. Live Oak Media (liveoakmedia.com). 2007. cassette, ISBN 978-1-43010-019-5: $25.95; CD, ISBN 978-1-43010-022-5: $28.95.

Gr 4-9–Walter Dean Myers’s fabulous book (Holiday House, 2006) is even better in this audio version. Winner of the 2008 Odyssey Award for excellence in children’s audiobook production, it opens with an extensive introduction to the history of jazz, and then explodes into Christopher Meyers’s lively acrylic-and-black-ink paintings of musicians on vividly colored pages. The poetry and art come alive with the beat and sass of jazz, as different styles and performers are showcased. James “D-Train” Williams and Vaneese Thomas give voice to the text with a celebration of music, poetry, and song. Rob Mathes has composed original music for each poem, which is performed by a live jazz ensemble. Williams and Thomas perform in perfect syncopation, molding each poem to the music, playing with and off each other’s voices. For example, “Stride” is a poem in which two words from each long, rhyming line are repeated in contrasting colors; the poem is performed by Williams, with Thomas joining him to add the featured words as he speaks them, creating an exciting emphasis and rhythm. From a New Orleans funeral celebration to be-bop and bluesy torch songs, they perform each piece with a distinctive jazz flavor, without allowing the music to overshadow the poetry. They also take turns reading the introduction, glossary, and timeline, so that the CD becomes a complete performance of the book that can stand on its own. This outstanding package immerses students in the art and history of this capricious and mesmerizing musical form.