Birth of the Cool: How Jazz Great Miles Davis Found His Sound

by Kathleen Cornell Berman, Keith Henry Brown (Illustrator)

Overview

Miles can’t sleep.
Taps his toes,
snaps his fingers,
can’t stop thinking of ways
to make music his own.

As a young musician, Miles Davis heard music everywhere. This biography explores the childhood and early career of a jazz legend as he finds his voice and shapes a new musical sound. Follow his progression from East St. Louis to rural Arkansas, from Julliard and NYC jazz clubs to the prestigious Newport Jazz Festival. Rhythmic free verse imbues his story with musicality and gets readers in the groove. Music teachers and jazz fans will appreciate the beats and details throughout, and Miles’ drive to constantly listen, learn, and create will inspire kids to develop their own voice.

With evocative illustrations, this glimpse into Miles Davis’ life is sure to captivate music lovers young and old.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781624146909
Publisher:	Page Street Publishing
Publication date:	04/16/2019
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	658,258
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 11.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Cornell Berman is an assembler and sculptor of words and found objects. A former elementary school teacher, she now spends her time writing, creating art, and frequenting jazz concerts. This is her debut picture book. She lives in Queens, New York, with her husband.

Keith Henry Brown, debut picture book illustrator, got his start drawing super heroes, but jazz musicians like Miles Davis have always been heroes to him. A graduate of the High School of Art and Design as well as Parsons School of Design, he combined his love of art and jazz as the creative director at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has designed and illustrated promotional graphics and several jazz album covers. Born and raised in Staten Island, he now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

01/07/2019

Cornell Berman’s sensitive story of Miles Davis recounts his formative influences and development as a musician. With prudently placed line breaks, Berman’s writing mimics the cadence of jazz, and the text emphasizes the often frustrating process of mastering an instrument: “Overcome with exhaustion/ yet feeling exhilarated,/ he knows he’s moving ahead,/ away from bebop,/ to create a new way/ to play his trumpet.” Brown’s pen-and-ink and watercolor art conveys both the precision and fluidity of the musician’s style. Quotations from Davis are included throughout (“The way you change and help music is by trying to invent new ways to play”), while author and illustrator notes more clearly place Davis within the context of music history. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"A stirring, soulful, well-researched look at the groundwork that informed Miles' signature sound, offering an entry point to a towering, complicated figure who reshaped 20th-century music again and again." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"The lyrical prose is written in short stanzas that beg to be read aloud. Brown’s art is warm, stylized realism that, along with the text, conveys the earnestness and enthusiasm of Davis’s beginnings...Great introductory biography to this musician’s beginnings through age 29.­" —School Library Journal

"Berman’s writing mimics the cadence of jazz...Brown’s pen-and-ink and watercolor art conveys both the precision and fluidity of [Miles Davis's] style."—Publishers Weekly

"An entertaining introduction to the life of a famous jazz musician"—Booklist

From the Publisher

04/01/2019

Gr 3–7—From a very early age, Davis was captivated by the music and rhythmic sounds around him. Nestled up to the radio to hear jazz legends like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, Davis longed to make his own kind of music. For his 13th birthday, he received a trumpet and never looked back, though his rise to fame was not easy. He faced discouragement in his ability to make the trumpet produce the particular sounds he wanted and exhaustion from attending Julliard while also playing in night clubs in order to learn from other musicians. His big break came when Dizzy Gillespie left Charlie Parker's band and Davis stepped in. Bebop wasn't enough for him; he yearned to develop his own style, eventually forming his own band to play music that was "cool, relaxed, with a lighter, lyrical feel." At this point in the narrative, the author references the "dark days" when Davis nearly gave up his craft, but no details are provided. The book ends after Davis receives an invitation to play at the Newport Jazz Festival where he stuns the massive audience. Within the text, the word listened is italicized every time it is used to emphasize how intently Davis engaged with the sounds he heard. The author effectively sprinkles in Davis's own words in larger, darker font. The lyrical prose is written in short stanzas that beg to be read aloud. Brown's art is warm, stylized realism that, along with the text, conveys the earnestness and enthusiasm of Davis's beginnings. VERDICT A great introductory biography to this musician's beginnings through age 29.—Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID

School Library Journal

★ 2019-01-28

Celebrating the incomparable jazz legend Miles Davis, Berman and Brown focus on the people, sounds, and experiences that shaped his unique ear, laying the foundation for a nearly half-century hallmark career.

It can prove quite difficult to share the life story of Miles Davis for younger audiences. Looking beyond the pace-setting, genre-redefining musical legacy, a whole host of complications appear. Here Berman trains her lens on a young Miles: navigating Jim Crow-era segregation in high school, breaking out to finding his place in a bustling New York jazz scene, and navigating early-career anxieties, strife, and "dark days" before taking center stage again at 29 as the audience "goes wild…electrified and satisfied." In this rendering that accents change just as much as genius, readers are left with lessons of perseverance, critical listening, and the importance of embracing their own uniqueness. Brown goes to work on the illustrations, accompanying the free-verse text with inspired ink-and-watercolor paintings that use color and perspective to evoke Miles' sound. An amazing touch throughout is the inclusion of timeless quotes from Miles himself in a display type that appropriately acknowledges the gravelly, gruff voice that made those sparingly delivered words pop that much more. Neither the primary text nor the author's note addresses Davis' serial abuse, so this is just an introduction.

A stirring, soulful, well-researched look at the groundwork that informed Miles' signature sound, offering an entry point to a towering, complicated figure who reshaped 20th-century music again and again. (illustrator's note, discography, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews