''Jazz on a Saturday Night'' is a 2007 children's picture book by American writers

Leo and Diane Dillon Leo Dillon (March 2, 1933 – May 26, 2012) and Diane Dillon (''née'' Sorber; born March 13, 1933) were American illustrators of children's books and adult paperback book and magazine covers. One obituary of Leo called the work of the husba ...

published by The Blue Sky Press.

Synopsis

A crowd gathers in a concert hall on a Saturday night, ready to hear live Jazz after a long work week. Famous musicians gather and perform for the audience, including Miles Davis, Max Roach, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Stanley Clark, Ella Fitzgerald. These musicians combine melodies using trumpet, saxophone, piano, vocals, bass, guitar, and drums. As the concert concludes, each member of the audience files out, inspired and uplifted by the music they heard. While these musicians never truly played together historically, they all were famous and talented performers.

Background

The authors and illustrators of this book, Lee and Diane Dillon, frequently listen to jazz and use it as inspiration for their work.

Reception

This book was received very well by many professional book review companies. One such was

Kirkus ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

, which praised the illustrations, stating, "...the authors paint stylized, affectionate portraits of eight artists...". Scholastic referred to the book as "pure magic". It received the

Coretta Scott King Award The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award rec ...

honor for illustrator in 2008.

References

2007 children's books American picture books Blue Sky Press books {{Picture-book-stub