Review by Booklist Review
The beat of lyrical words and the rhythm of the beautiful illustrations express how, as a child, jazz-musician Coltrane heard music in the world around him. Vibrant with color and movement, double-page spreads in acrylic, collage, and pencil extend the images about the magical sounds of everyday things: hambones knocking in Grandma's pots, / Daddy strumming the ukelele, / and Mama cranking the phonograph. In the climax Coltrane transforms those sounds to make his great music, breathed every sound / he'd ever known into a bold new song. Never cluttered, the remembered visions of steaming trains, church, birdsong, radio, and home blend on the pages with waves of sound coming from Coltrane's horn. Specific as the images are to growing up in the South in the 1930s, they will still echo with contemporary children, who will recognize the music in their daily lives. A long note at the back fills in biographical detail and recommends books and CDs. This is more accessible than John Coltrane's Giant Steps (2002), by Chris Raschka.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-"Before John was a jazz giant,/he/was/all/ears." He heard "hambones knocking" in a pot on the stove, steam engines, tap dancers, preachers, sobs, cheers, and birdsongs. And he heard music-his father's ukelele, the family Victrola, church hymns, the community band, jitterbug music, and big bands playing on the radio, "blue notes crooning his name." So he picked up the saxophone and poured all the sounds he'd heard into music all his own. Weatherford's evocative poem traces Coltrane's influences simply and stunningly, her redolent voice as smooth and vivid as jazz itself. Qualls's double-page, full-bleed illustrations combine acrylic, collage, and pencil in surrealist renderings of young Coltrane soaking up the sounds surrounding him. A muted palette of rich hues suggests the smoky jazz moods he would create, the sounds dreamily dancing through the air amid streaming ribbons of music. A full-page biography of Coltrane concludes the volume, along with a list of recommended listening and further reading, making this picture book appealing to all ages studying jazz or African American history. Pair it with recordings of Coltrane for added appeal to a wide audience.-Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) Authors keep trying to communicate the joys of jazz through the visual and literary medium of the picture book, and Weatherford's words and Qualls's pictures together do it surprisingly well. In four-line stanzas Weatherford lists the sounds and experiences that made young John Coltrane into the great musician he became. Some are sounds like "hambones knocking in Grandma's pots," and others are the things he did himself, like answering "the scoutmaster's call to join a band." In previous books Qualls's characters have frequently looked overly somber, but the tone works well here as the young Coltrane appears in each painting to be listening, focusing, soaking it all in. By the end, he is making his own music, and the collage, acrylic, and pencil illustrations shift from the realistic to shapes and colors evoking the music. The final line, "Before John was a jazz giant, he was all ears," brings the book to a satisfying finale, with a coda of an author's note giving a biography and lists of selected listening and further reading. Even children who are unfamiliar with jazz in general and John Coltrane in particular may find their interest piqued. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Weatherford's compressed poetic homage to Coltrane's early influences relays biographical details through metaphors evoking sound: "Before John was a jazz giant, / he heard Grandpa's Sunday sermons, / Mama playing hymns for the senior choir, / and the scoutmaster's call to join a band." Five other stanzas, each beginning with the titular phrase, both convey 1930s references (Bojangles, big bands) and presage Coltrane's musical arc to come ("he heard...a saxophone's soulful solo, / blue notes crooning his name." Qualls's mixed-media full-bleed spreads employ a color palette (blue, sienna, ochre, white) and sonic iconography similar to (and not exceeding) his much-praised work in Dizzy. Circles and bubbles populate each spread, standing in for the emanations of Grandma's cooking pots, the setting-sun sadness of a family funeral and sweet possibility, as John "picked up that horn." Layout conspires nicely to deliver Weatherford's final couplet over two full spreads: "Before John was a jazz giant, / he was all ears." (author's note, selected recordings, reading list) (Picture book/biography. 5-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
