A Child’s Introduction to Jazz, Asim/Polk

Author: Jabari Asim 
Illustrator: Jerrard K. Polk 
Format: Hardcover, 96 pages 
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal (2022) 
ISBN: 9780762479412 

Welcome to jazz! Feel the music and rhythms of all the different styles of jazz, from swing and Dixieland to the blues and bebop, with this interactive introduction to the world’s coolest music. 

Author Jabari Asim will take you on the journey through the history of jazz as you discover the most important musicians and singers while hearing some really cool sounds. You’ll learn all about the roots of jazz in Africa and New Orleans and how the music traveled to different parts of the United States and around the world. Along the way you’ll meet legendary trumpeter Louis Armstrong, who shaped a new form of jazz called improvisation; pianist and bandleader Duke Ellington, who helped create the big band sound of the swing era, and the singer Billie Holiday, whose songs such as “God Bless the Child,” “Don’t Explain” and “Lady Sings the Blues” have become jazz standards. 

Listen along to the sounds of jazz by downloading music and hearing instruments such as trumpets, clarinets, trombones and even singers scatting as they improvise melodies. With a pull-out poster showing the different instruments of jazz, A Child’s Introduction to Jazz hits the perfect beat and will have you bebopping and scatting in no time!