20th May Josephine Baker Day

Josephine Baker (1906–1975) was nineteen years old when she found herself in Paris for the first time in 1925. Overnight, the young American dancer became the idol of the Roaring Twenties, captivating Picasso, Cocteau, Le Corbusier, and Simenon.

In the liberating atmosphere of the 1930s, Baker rose to fame as the first black star on the world stage, from London to Vienna, Alexandria to Buenos Aires. After World War II, and her time in the French Resistance, Baker devoted herself to the struggle against racial segregation, publicly battling the humiliations she had for so long suffered personally. 

She led by example, and over the course of the 1950s adopted twelve orphans of different ethnic backgrounds: a veritable Rainbow Tribe. A victim of racism throughout her life, Josephine Baker would sing of love and liberty until the day she died.

There are quite a number of picture book biographies about Josephine Baker, so you will be able to find one for the age group you teach. The Little People Big Dreams version in the library is borrowed the most at the library.
 

6th November Saxophone Day

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. The Story of the Saxophone by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James 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. 

6th November is Saxophone Day, which coincides with the birthday of its inventor, Antoine-Joseph ‘Adolphe’ Sax. This Belgian musician conceived the saxophone in 1841, the only instrument created by one single person and the only brass instrument in the woodwind family. Before the saxophone, he created various ‘sax’ brass instruments that fell into oblivion, including the saxtuba, saxotromba, and saxhorn. Today we celebrate the fantastic contribution of the saxophone to music. With time, it became an inherent part of jazz bands, inspiring many songs and dances from classical saxophonist Marcel Mule to the famous jazz musician Charlie Parker.

There are more books than you would think about people who have played the saxophone after its invention. Most of the books are picture book biographies.

30th April International Jazz Day

International Jazz Day is a yearly event on 30 April, organized by UNESCO to celebrate “the virtues of jazz as an educational tool, and a force for peace, unity, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people.” The day was proclaimed during the UNESCO General Conference in November 2011.

Once I would have said that jazz music wasn't something my students were interested in, but I haven't had too much trouble getting them to borrow books such as these:

• Ben's Trumpet  by Rachel Isadora

• This Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt

• The Jazz Fly by Matthew W. Gollub
• Sheep's Jazzy Jumper by Carrie and David Grant

• My Two Grandads by Floella Benjamin

and all the wonderful biographies that are part of the library's picture book biography collection:

• Dizzy  by Jonah Winter ( the story of Dizzy Gillespie)

• Mister and Lady Day by Amy Novesky (the story of Billie Holiday and the dog who loved her)

• The Little Piano Girl by Ann Ingalls and Maryann MacDonald (the story of Mary Lou Williams)

• Jazz Age Josephine by Jonah Winter (the story of singer Josephine Baker)

• Charlie Parker Played Be Bop by Chris Raschka

• Before John was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane by Carole Boston Weatherford

4th August Louis Armstrong (1901 - 1971)

Louis Armstrong was a famous jazz musician. There is a considerable number of expository texts written about his life, but This Jazz Man is a tribute to nine well-known jazz musicians in a format very accessible to very young children. The song 'This Old Man' gets a toe-tapping makeover and it features nine of the best jazz musicians. Satchmo (Louis Armstrong's nickname) plays one, Bojangles plays two and so on until the ninth featured musician. As well as counting, dancing and swaying to the song the book includes a brief biography on each musician. Our library's copy has an accompanying CD to make it even easier to sing and dance along with.