Jabari Asim - A Childs Introduction to Jazz: The Musicians, Culture, and Roots of the Worlds Coolest Music

Text copyright 2022 by Jabari Asim

Interior and jacket illustrations 2022 by Jerrard K. Polk

Jacket design by Katie Benezra

Jacket copyright 2022 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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First Edition: December 2022

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Asim, Jabari, 1962 author. | Polk, Jerrard K., illustrator.

Title: A childs introduction to jazz : the musicians, culture, and roots of the worlds coolest music / Jabari Asim ; illustrated by Jerrard K. Polk.

Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Black Dog & Leventhal, 2022. | Includes index. | Audience: Ages 812 | Summary: A Childs Introduction to Jazz explores the rich history of jazz music, including profiles of famous musicians like Louis Armstrong and Billie Holliday. Written by A Childs Introduction to African American History author Jabari Asim, the book includes downloadable links throughout, to allow kids to listen along to the instruments and musical flair of jazzProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022012554 (print) | LCCN 2022012555 (ebook) | ISBN 9780762479412 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780762479429 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: JazzHistory and criticismJuvenile literature. | Jazz musiciansJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC ML3506 .A746 2022 (print) | LCC ML3506 (ebook) | DDC 781.65dc23/eng/20220311

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022012554

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022012555

ISBNs: 978-0-7624-7941-2 (hardcover); 978-0-7624-7942-9 (ebook)

E3-20221118-JV-NF-ORI

Jabari Asims dedication

In memory of my brother Seitu, who first taught me about this wonderful music.

Jerrard K. Polks dedication

To my wife, son, mom, and dad. Thanks to JAZZ, a constant source of inspiration!

LISTEN ALONG!

This interactive book allows you to listen to the sounds of jazz as you read! When you see the Listen Along boxes, ask your parent or guardian to scan the QR code to find a list of different jazz sounds. Click on the track to hear some cool instruments and sounds!

You can see the track list on our website: https://hach.co/ChildsIntroJazz

H ave you ever heard a woodpecker tapping on a tree trunk? The tap-tap-tap of its beak against the bark is what we call rhythm. Have you ever patted your foot while listening to a favorite tune? The pattern of sounds your foot makes is also what we call rhythm. The bark of a dog, the tick of a clock, and the brisk-brisk of a broom sweeping the sidewalk are all examples of the rhythms that can be heard throughout the day, indoors and out.

From Africa to New Orleans

No one can say for sure where or when people began to create rhythms of their own, perhaps by clapping their hands or pounding sticks together. We do know that rhythm has strong roots in Africa, home of the worlds earliest civilizations. African rhythms traveled across the Atlantic when people were abducted from their homes and forced to sail to the Americas. One of the places they arrived was New Orleans, a port city on the Mississippi River, near the Gulf of Mexico. The Chitimacha people had lived there before being forced off the land by colonizers from France and Spain. New Orleans became part of the United States in 1803.

JAZZ PLAYLIST

T here are so many cool jazz songs you can find and listen to. Well talk about these musicians throughout the book.

Maple Leaf Rag by Jelly Roll Morton

West End Blues by Louis Armstrong

Take The A Train by Duke Ellington

One OClock Jump by Count Basie

Charleston by James P. Johnson

Aint Misbehavin by Fats Waller

A-Tisket, A-Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald

Blue Moon by Billie Holiday

Walkin and Swingin by Mary Lou Williams

Salt Peanuts by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker

Misterioso by Thelonious Monk

All Blues by Miles Davis

Bags Groove by Modern Jazz Quartet

Take Five by Dave Brubeck

Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock

My Favorite Things by John Coltrane

Work Song by Cannonball Adderley

Birdland by Weather Report

Bells (Ring Loudly) by Terri Lyne Carrington

If Its Magic by Ccile McLorin Salvant

Jazz Beginnings

I n some parts of the United States, Africans had been forbidden to play drums. Their captors worried that they would use rhythm to send messages to their enslaved kin and share plans to turn against the people who held them in bondage. New Orleans was one of the few places where drums were allowed to be played. Every Sunday, Black people would gather to make music and dance in that citys Congo Square. Some of the people were free and some of them were not. They brought rhythms they knew from various places in Africa. There, those rhythms came in contact with music from other places like Mexico, Cuba, and France, as well as the music of the Indigenous people who had lived in Louisiana for centuries. From this blend of sound, they developed the music often called jazz. Some people prefer to call it African American classical music, while others prefer Great Black Music. No matter what its called, this marvelous music took shape in New Orleans and, in time, its irresistible rhythms spread around the world.

Over the years, jazz musicians have experimented with different styles, favoring some over others. They include Dixieland, swing, bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, free jazz, and fusion. In each style, the creators of this music were in search of a sound that pleased their ears and satisfied their imaginations. Duke Ellington, whom we will meet in these pages, perhaps said it best: Music at its finest, he said, is beyond category.