This blog is free and reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, we may earn an affiliate commission to assist with operating costs. Learn More.
When sax player Charlie “Bird” Parker and trumpeter John “Dizzy” Gillespie make music together, they toss notes back and forth like a game of tag and chase each other with sounds.
Amazon
Ella Fitzgerald sang the blues and she sang them good. Ella and her fellas were on the way up! It seemed like nothing could stop her, until the biggest club in town refused to let her play… and all because of her colour.
Amazon
When Esquire magazine planned an issue to salute the American jazz scene in 1958, graphic designer Art Kane pitched a crazy idea: how about gathering a group of beloved jazz musicians and photographing them? He didn’t own a good camera, didn’t know if any musicians would show up, and insisted on setting up the shoot in front of a Harlem brownstone. Could he pull it off?
Amazon
This Little Golden Book biography shares how someone from incredibly poor beginnings can blossom and persevere to become an award-winning songwriter and singer, actress, author, literacy advocate–and she even has her own theme park!
Amazon
From jazz and blues, hip hop and R&B, pop, punk, and opera, Black women have made major contributions to the history and formation of musical genres for more than a century.
Amazon
Thought Provoking Reads 