Jazz

Bibliography

Myers, Walter Dean. Jazz. Illus. by Christopher Myers. New York: Holiday House, 2006. 978-0823421732

Review

Jazz is an altogether moving collection of poems by Walter Dean Myers. The meanings portrayed in the poems vary from concrete to abstract but the key to these poems is that they are MEANINGFUL.

Rhythm is an important concept as many of the poems are a reflection of jazz music. In “Three Voices” (Myers, pgs. 36-38) the Bass and Piano have a steady rhythm displaying that they correspond in beat and in their pattern. These are able to be read in unison because of their likeness. When the third voice, the horn, is brought in however, a spontaneous, individual beat is brought into the picture.

Rhyme is seen in some poems such as “Be-Bop” (Myers, pg. 24) with words such as “playing…laying…paying…slaying” and “grinding…finding”. In “It’s Jazz” (Myers, pg. 41) a “t” sound is used with “rat-a-tatting…patting…scatting”. Assonance is also used in this poem with “of old New Orleans” being repeated. Sounds are powerful in this collection of poems.

The sense of sound is created on “Three Voices” (Myers, pg. 36-38) with the repetition of a “thum, thum, thum, and thumming” of a bass. The piano in this poem is described “like a charming angel choir” showing an example of similes used in Myers’ poetry.

The mood of this book can be described as confident and vivacious. The poems hold so much life and power and the illustrations are a perfect blend of the emotions evoked by the poems. The reader is constantly drawn into each poem and many will find a new hunger for more information about jazz and its origins.

Poem & Connection

Now I Come In

By Walter Dean Myers

(an excerpt)

This melody from memory

Makes harmonies that reach to be

So much more than a simple tune

Or rhyme

I’ll take you as far as I can go

I’ll blow as hard as I can blow

I’ll reach for the stars

Blow notes around Mars

And then you come in

And

Then

You

Come

In

(Myers, pg. 35)