Before John was a Jazz Giantby Carole Boston Weatherford
Syndetic Solutions - [Book Review for 9780805079944] Book Review : School Library Journal
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Gr 3–6—"Before John was a jazz giant,/he/was/all/ears." He heard "hambones knocking" in a pot on the stove, steam engines, tap dancers, preachers, sobs, cheers, and birdsongs. And he heard music—his father's ukelele, the family Victrola, church hymns, the community band, jitterbug music, and big bands playing on the radio, "blue notes crooning his name." So he picked up the saxophone and poured all the sounds he'd heard into music all his own. Weatherford's evocative poem traces Coltrane's influences simply and stunningly, her redolent voice as smooth and vivid as jazz itself. Qualls's double-page, full-bleed illustrations combine acrylic, collage, and pencil in surrealist renderings of young Coltrane soaking up the sounds surrounding him. A muted palette of rich hues suggests the smoky jazz moods he would create, the sounds dreamily dancing through the air amid streaming ribbons of music. A full-page biography of Coltrane concludes the volume, along with a list of recommended listening and further reading, making this picture book appealing to all ages studying jazz or African American history. Pair it with recordings of Coltrane for added appeal to a wide audience.—Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Syndetic Solutions - [Book Review for 0805079947] Book Review : BookList
: From BookList, February 1, 2008, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. : The beat of lyrical words and the rhythm of the beautiful illustrations express how, as a child, jazz-musician Coltrane heard music in the world around him. Vibrant with color and movement, double-page spreads in acrylic, collage, and pencil extend the images about the magical sounds of everyday things: "hambones knocking in Grandma's pots, / Daddy strumming the ukelele, / and Mama cranking the phonograph." In the climax Coltrane transforms those sounds to make his great music, "breathed every sound / he'd ever known into a bold new song." Never cluttered, the remembered visions of steaming trains, church, birdsong, radio, and home blend on the pages with waves of sound coming from Coltrane's horn. Specific as the images are to growing up in the South in the 1930s, they will still echo with contemporary children, who will recognize the music in their daily lives. A long note at the back fills in biographical detail and recommends books and CDs. This is more accessible than John Coltrane's Giant Steps (2002), by Chris Raschka. Rochman, Hazel. : | distributed by Syndetic Solutions, LLC.: |
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