It’s spring.
April is in full swing
hoppin’ and beboppin’
like cool jazz music.
April is Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM)! Celebrating the history of jazz is only one of the reasons to participate in the month-long festivities. Jazz was birthed in New Orleans and is considered to be “one of America’s original art forms.” Although it was created before Louis Armstrong was born, he had such an impact on the way people composed, played, and listened to jazz; he is accepted by many as its “founding father.” One of the selections listed below, Just a Lucky So and So: The Story of Louis Armstrong is a picture book biography that tells about his childhood and music accomplishments. The other books are a mix of fiction and nonfiction picture, middle grade and young adult reads. To learn more about JAM, see sources and additional reading below.
Jazz Baby – Carole Boston Weatherford
A Tisket, A Tasket – Ella Fitzgerald
Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band – Kwame Alexander
Stompin' at the Savoy – Bebe Moore Campbell
Willie Jerome – Alice Faye Duncan
Trombone Shorty – Troy Andrews
Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the First Black-and-White Jazz Band in History – Lesa Cline Ransome
Jazz on a Saturday Night – Leo & Diane Dillon
Just a Lucky So and So: The Story of Louis Armstrong – Lesa Cline Ransome
Jazz – Walter Dean Myers
Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa – Andrea Davis Pinkney
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra – Andrea Davis Pinkney
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone – Katheryn Russell-Brown
Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane – Carole Boston Weatherford
Becoming Billie Holiday – Carole Boston Weatherford
Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits – Wynton Marsalis
First Book of Jazz – Langston Hughes
Take-Off: American All-Girl Bands During World War II – Tonya Bolden
The Cotton Club – James Haskins
To a Young Jazz Musician: Letters from the Road – Wynton Marsalis
Hamp – Lionel Hampton & James Haskins
