Growing Up with Jazz


Book Description

Focusing on how these figures became jazz musicians, this volume discusses the two most prominent US jazz musicians: the influential bop drummer Art Blakely and the famous jazz pianist and personality Dr Billy Taylor.




Being Jazz


Book Description

Celebrate Pride every day with the teen advocate, trailblazer, and reality show star Jazz Jennings—one of Time Magazine's "25 Most Influential Teens" of the year. In this groundbreaking memoir, she inspires people to accept the differences in others while they embrace their own truths through sharing her very public transgender journey. "Jazz is one of the transgender community's most important activists." —Cosmopolitan "A role model for teens everywhere." —Seventeen At the age of five, Jazz Jennings’s transition to life as a girl put her in the public spotlight after she shared her story on national television. She’s since become one of the most recognizable and prominent advocates for transgender teens, through her TV show, interviews, and social media. Jazz’s openness has led to bullying and mistreatment from those who don’t understand her choices. She’s fought for the right to use the girls’ bathroom and to play on a girls’ soccer team, paving the way for others. And in this book, Jazz faces an even greater struggle—dealing with the physical and social stresses of being a teen. But being on the front lines of trans activism doesn't stop Jazz from experiencing the joys of growing up, from day camp to first dates. Jazz Jennings is one of the youngest and most prominent voices in the national discussion about gender identity. This remarkable memoir is a testament to the power of accepting yourself, learning to live an authentic life, and helping everyone to embrace their own truths.




Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales from Childhood


Book Description

Wise beyond her years and hip to the unpredictable ways of life at all too early an age, A.J. Albany guides us through dope and deviance of the late 1960s and early 1970s in Hollywood shadowy underbelly and beyond. A. J. Albany's recollection of life with her father, the great jazz pianist Joe Albany, is the story of one girl's unsentimental education. Joe played with the likes of Charles Mingus, Lester Young, and Charlie Parker, but between gigs he slipped into drug-induced obscurity. It was during these times that his daughter knew him best. After her mother disappeared, six-year-old Amy Jo and her charming, troubled father set up housekeeping in a seamy Hollywood hotel. While Joe finished a set in some red-boothed dive, chances were you'd find Amy curled up to sleep on someone's fur coat, clutching a 78 of Louis Armstrong's "Sugar Blues" or, later, a photograph of the man himself, inscribed, "To little Amy Jo, always in love with you--Pops." Wise beyond her years and hip to the unpredictable ways of Old Lady Life at all too early an age, A. J. Albany guides us through the dope and deviance of the late 1960s and early 1970s in Hollywood's shadowy underbelly and beyond. What emerges is a raw, gripping, and surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a young girl trying to survive among the outcasts, misfits, and artists who surrounded her.




I Am Jazz


Book Description

The story of a transgender child based on the real-life experience of Jazz Jennings, who has become a spokesperson for transkids everywhere "This is an essential tool for parents and teachers to share with children whether those kids identify as trans or not. I wish I had had a book like this when I was a kid struggling with gender identity questions. I found it deeply moving in its simplicity and honesty."—Laverne Cox (who plays Sophia in “Orange Is the New Black”) From the time she was two years old, Jazz knew that she had a girl's brain in a boy's body. She loved pink and dressing up as a mermaid and didn't feel like herself in boys' clothing. This confused her family, until they took her to a doctor who said that Jazz was transgender and that she was born that way. Jazz's story is based on her real-life experience and she tells it in a simple, clear way that will be appreciated by picture book readers, their parents, and teachers.




Growing Up with Jazz


Book Description

A jazz writer for three decades, W. Royal Stokes has a special talent for capturing the initial spark that launches a musician's career. In Growing Up With Jazz , he has interviewed twenty-four instrumentalists and singers who talk candidly about the early influences that started them on the road to jazz and where that road has taken them. Stokes offers a kaleidoscopic look at the jazz scene, featuring musicians from a dazzling array of backgrounds. Ray Gelato recalls the life of a working class youth in London, Patrizia Scascitelli recounts being a child prodigy in Rome who became the first woman of Italian jazz, and Billy Taylor tells about his childhood in Washington, DC, where his grandfather was a Baptist minister and his father a dentist--and everyone in the family seemed well trained in music. Perhaps most exotic is Luluk Purwanto, an Indonesian violinist who as a child listened to gamelan music in the morning and took violin lessons in the afternoon (on an instrument so expensive she didn't dare quit). For some, the flame burned bright at an early age. Jane Monheit sang before she could speak and was set on a musical career by age eight. Lisa Sokolov played classical piano, sang opera and choral music, and was in a jazz band--all by high school. But Carol Sudhalter, though born into a very musical family ("a Bix Beiderbecke family"), was a botany major at Smith, and only became a serious musician after college, quitting a government job to study the flute and saxophone in Italy. From Art Blakey to Claire Daly to Don Byron, here are the compelling stories of two dozen top musicians finding their way in the world of jazz.




Unicorn Jazz


Book Description

Get your child to learn about the importance of family and friends with this fun and colorful book for young children! This fun little book about a little unicorn named Jazz will mix the best of two worlds, it will teach your child about the importance of being unique and being happy by being yourself and at the same time provide for a fun read that your child will almost certainly enjoy. Meet the many friendly characters that will befriend and help Jazz on her way to discovering her talent for singing, and that everyone might feel like a "stranger" at one point or another. This book was especially designed to be educational and the words used have been especially chosen to improve the vocabulary of your child, so don't miss out on the opportunity to improve your child's vocabulary while at the same time teaching your child valuable life lessons through a funny, relatable unicorn that will definitely bring a smile to your child! Be sure to listen to the original UNCORN JAZZ FRIENDSHIP SONG found on YouTube! . "This book represents the importance of family and friends with a focus on finding strength in being unique." ~Suzanne Funk B.E.D., M. Ed. Review by the Happy Mindset, Podcast Host, Denis Murphy: "EMBRACE WHO YOU ARE!" Lisa has a wonderful way of helping the reader to connect with who they are and embrace their quirks and ambitions. Unicorn Jazz will help children to internalize important messages such as the value of real friendship and not being afraid to show the world who they are. The illustrations in this book are really great - simple, colorful and make the story come to life! EDITORIAL REVIEWS: Lisa Caprelli's Unicorn Jazz carries with it a timelessly serene message of hope for our upcoming generations. An Amazonian Wonder-Woman tale in the form of a harmonious unicorn fable, Unicorn Jazz depicts the features that warm and empower the essence of our natural fibers as we grow effortlessly, though not entirely without moments of fear and strain, through our childhood stages of psychological self-development. -P. Knowman Lisa Caprelli shares the working of her creative mind and joyfully brings readers into the colorful, happy and empowering world of 'Unicorn Jazz'. Her heart is evident in every page and the take-away message of kindness, acceptance and celebrating our uniqueness is presented in a way that adults can model from and teach, and children can engage to and listen. In my practice with families, I have seen how necessary compassion, acceptance and self-pride development are to building a healthy sense of self-esteem and self-worth, finding a sense of safety in self and others, and using this strong foundation to explore relationships and the world around them. Unicorn Jazz teaches these concepts at a fundamental age. I highly recommend checking out Unicorn Jazz for you and the developing children in your lives. . -Dr. Stacey Zlotnick © 2018 Happy Lifestyle Online www.UnicornJazz.comFollow on Instagram.com/UnicornJazzBrand




Before John Was a Jazz Giant


Book Description

Before John Was a Jazz Giant is a 2009 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book.




Blue Like Jazz


Book Description

This contemporary classic gets a limited edition makeover with movie art and a new preface from Donald Miller. In print for nearly a decade, Blue Like Jazz has earned a coveted spot on readers' shelves and in their hearts. Many have said that Donald Miller expressed exactly what they were feeling but couldn't find the words to say themselves. In this landmark book that changed what people expected from Christian writers, that changed what people needed for their spiritual journeys, Donald Miller takes readers through a real life striving to understand relationship with God. Heartwarming and hilarious, poignant and unexpected, Blue Like Jazz has become a contemporary classic. For anyone wondering if the Christian faith is still relevant in a postmodern culture, thirsting for a genuine encounter with a God who is real, or yearning for a renewed sense of passion in life . . . Blue Like Jazz is a fresh and original perspective on life, love, and redemption.




Boston Boy


Book Description

Through stories and portraits of the strong personalities around him, Nat Hentoff brings to life the political, familial, and musical forces that shaped his unique perspectives on the world.




Jazz in Love


Book Description

When her mother hears seventeen-year-old Jazz was seen hugging a boy, she launches the Guided Dating Plan to find Jazz the perfect, suitable, pre-screened Indian mate. Now, Jazz must act fast to find a way to follow her own heart and stay in the good graces of her parents.