A Child's Introduction to Jazz: The Musicians, Culture, and Roots of the World's Coolest Music (A Child's Introduction Series) by Jabari Asim, Jerrard K. Polk
Series: A Child's Introduction
Published by Black Dog & Leventhal ISBN: 0762479418
Format: Chapter Book Nonfiction
Goodreads

This selection introduces the reader to the history of jazz music; how and where it originated starting with those who came over on slave ships. The music of each African region came together and blended with the music of Mexico and the Indigenous peoples and became a genre known as Jazz. It gives profiles of famous musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Louis Armstrong, along with those who are not so well known, that made the genre what it is today. The author has given the reader a comprehensive history of Jazz and those musicians and instruments that have moved it along adding to and blending the music of each of the decades so that is a living and changing thing. Also offered in this book are downloadable links and QR codes so the reader can listen to the music and/or the instruments. This is a good solid addition to any library public or school that has patrons that love music. It can be used in both history and music units.

Reviewed by Kathy George, Retired Children’s Librarian