by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 16, 2010

When Miles Davis was a teenager, "he went to New York City to find and learn from the jazz master Charlie Parker," explains a note at the front of the book. "This is the story of what might have happened when young Miles first arrived in the 'land of bebop'..." The book opens with a beautiful oil painting of the skyline of New York City, under big puffy clouds. But written up in the sky are the thoughts of young Miles Davis.

"I was lookin' for Bird.
lookin' for Bird.
lookin' for Bird..."

There's a rhythm to his words, but there's also some red letters curling up to spell the sounds of a city jazz club. ("Dip-dip, da-dee, bop-bop-daweeba, dooby-do...") The magic of the paintings - and the book's layout - make it feel like a special moment. This is the first picture book by illustrator Marek Los. But according to the book's jacket, he'd already begun a drawing a series of oil paintings about jazz music.

Miles climbs to the top of a high fire escape, "and listened to notes as staccato as stars, and softer than the night." It's the saxophone of Charlie Parker, and "I wanted my music to fly like his when I found him." And there's more colorful letters in the sky over the smoggy city spelling out the sound of Bird's jazz. "Sky-ee, dee-ah, dee-ah, do-dee, da-do."

Describing young Miles' search puts a personal story to the phenomenon of jazz. It's as though author Robert Burleigh wants to introduce young readers not just to the history of jazz and the names of jazz, but to jazz itself - what it means, and how strongly it moves people when they hear it. The lavish colorful paintings add a significance to the story - but the text also gives extra context for the paintings. "Notes came to me," Davis says, "as jagged as the city skyline and far away as where the sun goes down..."

There's an orange subway station, and the fluorescent colors of a city street. Miles takes the ferry over a grey harbor, and finally arrives in the city's nightclub district. But Bird isn't playing tonight, so he returns to his room. And then there's a beautiful New York City sunset the night before he finally meets Bird for his first jam session.

"And so I dipped my head, and let my horn be me, full of everything I knew, city-light and city-shade, and played, and played, and played..."

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