It’s never too early to shape the next generation of jazz lovers!
Embracing this philosophy, BuckingJam Palace’s artistic director, Lisa Buck, ordered sound books about jazz for children (illustrated books with buttons that play sounds) to read to her grandchildren, Owen and Quinn. When the books arrived, Lisa was dismayed to see that women artists were almost entirely missing: forty-six of the artists pictured were male, with two lone female vocalists, one of whom played the piano. In teaching our children about jazz, these books are inadvertently teaching them that women do not play jazz. (Although one illustration did have women sweeping the floor, serving coffee and looking after a baby…).
Lack of representation has consequences. An estimated ten percent of the professional jazz community in North America is female. Women in every music genre in Canada are underrepresented on the radio, on festival stages and in decision-making roles in the music industry. Everywhere our children look and listen, they are discovering a world where women’s creativity is muted. What Will You Play? is part of BJP’s work to turn up the volume on women in music, starting with the stories our toddlers read.
What Will You Play? is a compact children’s sound book with heavy cardboard leaves, perfect for small hands. It features the music and illustrated images of Canada’s all-female jazz ensemble, The Ostara Project, a super-group of female bandleaders and composers. Each page highlights one artist and her instrument and plays an excerpt from one of her compositions.
