John Coltrane…wrote music
which, in his hands,
became swirling, leaping, tumbling
sheets of sound.
That’s what he called it.
from John Coltrane’s Giant Steps
written and illustrated by Chris Raschka
Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2002
My oldest grandson is studying music, learning to excel on his instruments (percussion includes a lot of different instruments), learning different aspects and genres of music, and learning to manage his time as well as whatever else we all learned as we moved toward independence.
He and the rest of his class are all working toward their college degrees in music. Music majors can specialize in performance, composition, music theory, the music industry, music technology, music education, music history, and music therapy.
Last weekend his four-piece jazz combo played outdoors in Columbus. They’re not professional yet, though to my untrained ear they sure sounded like it.
I used to think jazz was an either love it or hate it music style. That is, when I tried to listen. My musical experience taught me to be an active listener. I tried to anticipate where the melody was going and how it would get there. I looked for patterns in the rhythms. I even studied a little music theory.
But none of that prepared me for jazz. Jazz is improvisational. Jazz sings its own melodies and builds its own rhythms.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival began on April 23 and continues through May 3, 2026. It’s huge, and that’s probably an understatement. You can find out about this year’s festival here. Click the menu bar to find the musical lineup, view local crafts for sale, learn about New Orleans’s culture, and visit the Food Heritage Stage to watch some of New Orleans best chefs demonstrate how they prepare their cuisine.
From the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation's website, I learned that the Jazz Fest began in 1970. According to their mission, the foundation “promotes, preserves, perpetuates, and encourages the music, culture, and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs, and other cultural, educational, civic, and economic activities.
It’s grown in scope, importance, and funding during its first 55 years. The foundation is supported by grants, donations, and events (all listed on the link).
The word jazz is a slang term from the 1860s and and referred to pep or energy. Unlike classical music, pop, show tunes, or contemporary, jazz depends on improvisation. A jazz standard, typically a familiar tune, is interpreted through solos, a call and response pattern, and a band’s particular style. Solos are generally made up “on the spot.” The piece becomes something new. Every time it’s played and heard.
A good jazz band plays well together, anticipates where the lead musician is going, and follows the direction of each soloist.
In the early part of the last century, New Orleans had one of the most diverse populations in the South. Jazz was born of a blend of African, French, Caribbean, Italian, German, Mexican, Native American, and English music traditions and styles. It evolved and developed spontaneously by blending the syncopated rhythms of ragtime with the soulfulness of spirituals and the blues.
Jazz is uniquely American. It’s individual, continually changing, and always spontaneous, even when it’s rehearsed.
The most common subgeneres of jazz include Bebop, Latin, Fusion, Cool, and Swing. Beginning in the 1930s and 40s, the combination of percussion, brass, saxophones and her incredible voice made Ella Fitzgerald’s Swing easy to listen to and hard to sit still for.
Fitzgerald bridged into Bebop that grew from Swing. Its complex harmonies and rhythms begged for improvisation. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Ella were Bebop masters.
Latin jazz came into its own in the 1950s and remains popular. Fusion jazz emerged in the 1960s alongside rock-n-roll in all its variety. Fusion jazz pushes the boundaries of everything new.
It’s Cool jazz, though, that music researchers are discovering is jazz with health benefits.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, listening to music can lower anxiety and blood pressure, ease pain, and improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory.
Music has structure. Our brains compute the relationships between notes to make sense of the chords, rhythms, and melodies. Research from the National Library of Medicine (part of the National Institutes of Health, NIH) has shown that, among other genres, instrumental jazz is easier to interpret, especially without the layer of lyrical language, so is more soothing to listeners,.
A study done by the New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation (part of The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival) says Cool jazz’s “innovative riffs, cool tones, and complex rhythms can bring natural relief for mind & body.” Listening to jazz, the article continues, improves our focus, creativity, and even our immunity. “Listening to jazz for 30 minutes boosts immunoglobulin A (lgA), preventing [viral and bacterial] infection.”
So for my health (and enjoyment) I’ll kick off my shoes, pour my favorite beverage, find a comfortable seat and wait for the smooth, cool sounds of a piano, saxophone, or violin to accompany the songbirds in my backyard. Join me?
I’m reading a young middle grade novel, Appleblossom the Possum by Holly Goldberg Sloan and illustrated by Mary Rosen (Rocky Road Books/Penguin Young Readers Group, 2015). Geared for readers in about 3rd through 5th or 6th grade, it’s the story of a baby possum, trained up with her twelve siblings in the ways of the world by their mama. Appleblossom is more curious than careful, though. When she falls down the chimney of a house full of humans, she puts her acting skills and accidental friendship with the girl of the house to great use in a warm and funny read.
which, in his hands,
became swirling, leaping, tumbling
sheets of sound.
That’s what he called it.
from John Coltrane’s Giant Steps
written and illustrated by Chris Raschka
Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2002
My oldest grandson is studying music, learning to excel on his instruments (percussion includes a lot of different instruments), learning different aspects and genres of music, and learning to manage his time as well as whatever else we all learned as we moved toward independence.
He and the rest of his class are all working toward their college degrees in music. Music majors can specialize in performance, composition, music theory, the music industry, music technology, music education, music history, and music therapy.
Last weekend his four-piece jazz combo played outdoors in Columbus. They’re not professional yet, though to my untrained ear they sure sounded like it.
I used to think jazz was an either love it or hate it music style. That is, when I tried to listen. My musical experience taught me to be an active listener. I tried to anticipate where the melody was going and how it would get there. I looked for patterns in the rhythms. I even studied a little music theory.
But none of that prepared me for jazz. Jazz is improvisational. Jazz sings its own melodies and builds its own rhythms.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival began on April 23 and continues through May 3, 2026. It’s huge, and that’s probably an understatement. You can find out about this year’s festival here. Click the menu bar to find the musical lineup, view local crafts for sale, learn about New Orleans’s culture, and visit the Food Heritage Stage to watch some of New Orleans best chefs demonstrate how they prepare their cuisine.
From the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation's website, I learned that the Jazz Fest began in 1970. According to their mission, the foundation “promotes, preserves, perpetuates, and encourages the music, culture, and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs, and other cultural, educational, civic, and economic activities.
It’s grown in scope, importance, and funding during its first 55 years. The foundation is supported by grants, donations, and events (all listed on the link).
The word jazz is a slang term from the 1860s and and referred to pep or energy. Unlike classical music, pop, show tunes, or contemporary, jazz depends on improvisation. A jazz standard, typically a familiar tune, is interpreted through solos, a call and response pattern, and a band’s particular style. Solos are generally made up “on the spot.” The piece becomes something new. Every time it’s played and heard.
A good jazz band plays well together, anticipates where the lead musician is going, and follows the direction of each soloist.
In the early part of the last century, New Orleans had one of the most diverse populations in the South. Jazz was born of a blend of African, French, Caribbean, Italian, German, Mexican, Native American, and English music traditions and styles. It evolved and developed spontaneously by blending the syncopated rhythms of ragtime with the soulfulness of spirituals and the blues.
Jazz is uniquely American. It’s individual, continually changing, and always spontaneous, even when it’s rehearsed.
The most common subgeneres of jazz include Bebop, Latin, Fusion, Cool, and Swing. Beginning in the 1930s and 40s, the combination of percussion, brass, saxophones and her incredible voice made Ella Fitzgerald’s Swing easy to listen to and hard to sit still for.
Fitzgerald bridged into Bebop that grew from Swing. Its complex harmonies and rhythms begged for improvisation. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Ella were Bebop masters.
Latin jazz came into its own in the 1950s and remains popular. Fusion jazz emerged in the 1960s alongside rock-n-roll in all its variety. Fusion jazz pushes the boundaries of everything new.
It’s Cool jazz, though, that music researchers are discovering is jazz with health benefits.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, listening to music can lower anxiety and blood pressure, ease pain, and improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory.
Music has structure. Our brains compute the relationships between notes to make sense of the chords, rhythms, and melodies. Research from the National Library of Medicine (part of the National Institutes of Health, NIH) has shown that, among other genres, instrumental jazz is easier to interpret, especially without the layer of lyrical language, so is more soothing to listeners,.
A study done by the New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation (part of The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival) says Cool jazz’s “innovative riffs, cool tones, and complex rhythms can bring natural relief for mind & body.” Listening to jazz, the article continues, improves our focus, creativity, and even our immunity. “Listening to jazz for 30 minutes boosts immunoglobulin A (lgA), preventing [viral and bacterial] infection.”
So for my health (and enjoyment) I’ll kick off my shoes, pour my favorite beverage, find a comfortable seat and wait for the smooth, cool sounds of a piano, saxophone, or violin to accompany the songbirds in my backyard. Join me?
I’m reading a young middle grade novel, Appleblossom the Possum by Holly Goldberg Sloan and illustrated by Mary Rosen (Rocky Road Books/Penguin Young Readers Group, 2015). Geared for readers in about 3rd through 5th or 6th grade, it’s the story of a baby possum, trained up with her twelve siblings in the ways of the world by their mama. Appleblossom is more curious than careful, though. When she falls down the chimney of a house full of humans, she puts her acting skills and accidental friendship with the girl of the house to great use in a warm and funny read.
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