The Story of the Saxophone
by Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author) James E Ransome (Illustrator)
Brassy, smokey, melodious. There's nothing like the saxophone.
This incredible work from the award-winners behind Before She was Harriet includes a poster of jazz music's greatest talents. You may think that the story of the saxophone begins with Dexter Gordon or Charlie Parker, or on a street corner in New Orleans. It really began in 1840 in Belgium with a young daydreamer named Joseph-Antoine Adolphe Sax--a boy with bad luck but great ideas.
Coretta Scott King Honoree Lesa Cline-Ransome unravels the fascinating history of how Adolphe's once reviled instrument was transported across Europe and Mexico to New Orleans. Follow the saxophone's journey from Adolphe's imagination to the pawn shop window where it caught the eye of musician Sidney Bechet and became the iconic symbol of jazz music it is today.
Deflty retold, this history is paired with the gorgeous artwork of James E. Ransome, including an attention-grabbing poster of iconic jazz musicians you can find inside the jacket.
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Publishers Weekly
A young visionary introduces a new musical sound to the world in an underdog story pulled from lesser-known music history. In early 19th-century Belgium, often bored Joseph-Antoine Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) works at his father's instrument shop, playing "nearly every instrument you can imagine," and inventing new ones, including the sax trombone and the flugelhorn. "Daydreaming of a new sound" and assembling "one crazy contraption after the next," Sax finally finds a unique sound between a trumpet and clarinet: the saxophon. Sax's instrument causes an uproar, admired by classical music icon Hector Berlioz, rejected by Parisian traditionalists, and labeled by others as a "devil's horn." Only after Sax's death did American musicians such as Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, and Dexter Gordon elevate Sax's controversial invention into an essential part of jazz expression. Cline-Ransome invites readers' empathy through clearly established stakes as Sax triumphs over critics, while Ransome's initially muted cityscapes give way to vibrant celebrations of band music, and end-paper portraits celebrate a diverse array of saxophonists. Ages 6-9. (Mar.)
Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
JNF036090 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Music | Instruments
Saxophone
Sax, Adolphe
