First published 1997
Jazz emerged from America alone. Newbery Honor winner James Lincoln Collier examines how this musical form developed from African tribal rhythms brought by enslaved people into gospel and ragtime, then blossomed into Dixieland, swing, bebop, cool jazz, free jazz, and fusion. Collier introduces the musicians who built the art form: Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington brought jazz to mainstream audiences, while Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker experimented with new sounds and structures. Later innovators like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane transformed jazz again. The author follows jazz from Louisiana's rural barns at the century's turn through New York's bustling clubs in the 1920s as it became a worldwide phenomenon. This illustrated history reveals how jazz conquered international audiences while staying distinctly American.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, american, african-american, non-fiction, music, american-history
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction
Setting: Louisiana, New York
Period: 20th Century
112 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)