The simple, effortlessly rhyming text shows how jazz musicians work together to improvise music never heard before or after that one special evening.

A brief recounting of the career of this jazz musician and composer who, along with his orchestra, created music that was beyond category.

Hailing from the Trem’ae neighborhood in New Orleans, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews got his nickname by wielding a trombone twice as long as he was high. A prodigy, he was leading his own band by age six, and today this Grammy-nominated artist headlines the legendary New Orleans Jazz Fest.

Growing up in 1930s South, John heard a lot in church, on the radio, and in his house, that would influence his style of music.

Relates how the famous jazz trumpeter began his musical career, as a poor boy in New Orleans, by singing songs on street corners and playing a battered cornet in a marching band.

A biography of African American musician Melba Doretta Liston, a virtuoso musician who played the trombone and composed and arranged music for many of the great jazz musicians of the twentieth century. Includes afterword, discography, and sources.

Follows the beloved American jazz singer’s rise to fame, describing the difficult historical and cultural factors that she overcame.

Celebrates the 1936 debut of the Benny Goodman quartet with Teddy Wilson in Chicago, considered to be the first widely seen integrated jazz performance.

Traces Oscar Peterson’s rise from being a disadvantaged youth to becoming one of the world’s most distinguished jazz pianists, discussing such topics as his battles with racism, illness, and poverty.

Describes his turbulent childhood, the birth of bebop, and big bands.