Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honor - American Library Association (ALA)
NAACP Image Awards Nominee - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Galardonada con el premio Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award, una biografía de la virtuosa del jazz afroamericana Melba Doretta Liston, una trombonista, compositora y arreglista musical pionera del siglo XX en una época en la que pocas mujeres tocaban instrumentos y formaban parte de la escena del jazz.

Recipient of the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor award, a biography of African American jazz virtuoso Melba Doretta Liston, a pioneering twentieth-century trombone player, composer, and music arranger at a time when few women played brass instruments and were part of the jazz scene.

A los siete años, Melba Doretta Liston se enamoró de un trombón grande y brillante, y pronto aprendió a tocar el instrumento. Cuando era una adolescente, el extraordinario don de Melba para la música la llevó al mundo del jazz. Se unió a una banda dirigida por el trompetista Gerald Wilson y recorrió el país. Superando obstáculos de raza y género, Melba se convirtió en una famosa trombonista y arreglista, transformando ritmos, armonías y melodías en magníficas canciones para todos los grandes del jazz del siglo XX: Randy Weston, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday y Quincy Jones, por nombrar solo algunos.

Rebosante de entusiasmo y la alegría de hacer música, La pequeña Melba y su gran trombón es un maravilloso tributo a un músico pionero y un gran héroe anónimo del jazz.

At age seven, Melba Doretta Liston fell in love with a big, shiny trombone, and soon taught herself to play the instrument. By the time she was a teenager, Melba's extraordinary gift for music led her to the world of jazz. She joined a band led by trumpet player Gerald Wilson and toured the country. Overcoming obstacles of race and gender, Melba went on to become a famed trombone player and arranger, spinning rhythms, harmonies, and melodies into gorgeous songs for all the jazz greats of the twentieth century: Randy Weston, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, and Quincy Jones, to name just a few.

Brimming with ebullience and the joy of making music, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is a fitting tribute to a trailblazing musician and a great unsung hero of jazz.