Jazz poetically tells the story of the development of the genre and its subgenres. It brings you on a long journey from where it all started to the present day. It's rhythmic narration and beautiful images take you through the tale as if you were listening to a Jazz band play it out right in front of you. As I was reading it I wished that someone else was reading it to me because I have trouble carrying a tune and felt like I just was not getting it right. I really enjoyed learning about Jazz and the glossary of terms at the end helped it all come together. ( )

I enjoyed reading this picture book because it is about New Orleans. I think New Orleans culture is super cool. I am not really the biggest fan of poetry, but I think it is important to branch out, so I am glad I got a chance to read through all of these short poems. These poems are all about the street life in New Orleans and the Jazz scene. It is a side of New Orleans I don't really see that much. I also really like how this book was dedicated to the children of New Orleans. ( )

I liked this book for 2 reasons. First, I liked this book because of the writing, Myers wrote about the different styles of jazz and some popular jazz pieces, for example, “Oh Miss Kitty”. Also, Myers included a glossary with vocabulary words. Another reason why I like this book is because of the language, throughout book Myers uses descriptive language to help the readers understand what jazz is. For example, “Start with rhythm, start with the heart, work songs, gospel, triumph, despair, voices, lifted” this gives the reader an idea of all the different characteristics of jazz music. The big idea of this book is to inform readers about jazz and the background of this great genre of music is.

"Jazz", by Walter Dean Myers, is a picture book consisting of colorful paintings on each page that set the tone of the book to be exciting, groovy, and interesting. This book provides song lyrics and poetry on every page, as well as includes various instruments and jazz terms throughout the book. Readers are able to get a sense of the culture of rhythm and blues, along with its significance in New Orleans. Each page has a different mood, with different dance moves or actions to go along with the poem or word choice on the page, keeping readers attracted to the page with the various colors and style. This is a great book for readers to understand diversity in music, as well as introducing different genre's, one being jazz. ( )

Father and son duo Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers have created a lovely homage to jazz in this poetry picturebook. Each poem is paired with a portrait of a jazz musician or people dancing to the beat. There is nothing else in the scene, save for the vibrant colors. Readers of all ages will be drawn in by the movement and soul that comes through in the images, and the striking contrast of varying text colors and fonts on the words that swing and pop.
The book opens with an overview of jazz, as a term, culture, and music type, and it closes with a glossary of jazz terms that are used throughout the poems, and a timeline of the evolution of jazz.