Welcome to Jazz – Carolyn Sloan (Workman)
Having encouraged multitudes of kids (and parents) to fall in love with Classical (by way of Beethoven’s 5th) in her previous sound book, Welcome to the Symphony, music writer/educator/performer/supporter Carolyn Sloan (www.carolynsloan.com) takes on what may be a more popular but less understood and less easily defined genre with her follow-up, Welcome to Jazz. For while people may think that this music is America’s greatest cultural gift to the world, there is much more to it than that. The story of Jazz goes back even before Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet to the fields of Africa and the Caribbean. Sloan pays tribute to these sources while focusing on the southern spot that is often credited as the birthplace of the genre- New Orleans, LA, USA, using “When the Saints Go Marching In” as the basis for her far-reaching but approachable exploration. Along the way, Sloan introduces not only such key concepts as improvisation, scatting, and groove, she also enlists talented musical artists to offer samples of the very sounds of which Jazz is made. So even if you cannot fully define Jazz, with the help of this cool cat catalog of Jazz, you can hear what it sounds like and start your own musical journey!
- Matt Robinson
