Illustrations and rhyming text celebrate the roots of jazz music.

"A definitive account of the birth of rock 'n' roll in black America...The Chitlin' Circuit brings us into the sweaty back rooms where such stars as James Brown, B. B. King, and Little Richard got their start."--Amazon.com.

A one-hundredth birthday tribute to the late jazz artist explores his observations about humanity's discriminatory and violent behaviors as well as his efforts to forge world peace through music with the Sun Ra Arkestra.

"An ensemble-cast novel about the perennial temptations of dangerous love, following a jazz musician and the multiple women--some charmed by him, others scorned--who find the power of their own voices in this thrilling debut. It's 2013, and Circus Palmer, a forty-year-old Boston-based trumpet player and old-school ladies man, lives for his music, and refuses to be tied down. Before a gig in Miami, he learns that the woman who is secretly closest to...

Ever since she was a young girl, Lil Hardin played music with a beat. She jammed at home, at church, and even at her first job in a music store. At a time when women's only place in jazz was at the microphone, Lil earned a spot playing piano in Chicago's hottest band.

The life story of this great instrumentalist, bandleader, and entertainer illustrates much of the black entertainer's impact on American culture and illuminates how popular culture often intersects with politics and economics.

Provides a biography detailing the life, times, and achievements of African American composer and bandleader Duke Ellington. Includes a chronology, photographs, a glossary, and further resources.

"J is for Jazz is a riotous romp through the alphabet featuring the history and living creativity of this special music!"--

The musical language and highly idiosyncratic style of Thelonious Monk-so avant-garde in its day-is in many ways still considered avant-garde today. This program seeks to understand Monk's innovative music by tracing the Harlem-born jazzman's career. His childhood debut as accompanist for a touring preacher, years of searching for his own style, gradual acceptance by the public who had neglected him, eventual critical acclaim as a musical genius,...