by Sam Juliano
The fact that Melba Doretta Liston was the first woman trombonist to hone her craft with the big bands in the 1940’s and beyond would in itself make a picture book on the subject an inherently inspiring chapter in musical history. Starting up on the trombone at age seven qualifies Liston as a child prodigy, and her ascendance to the top level of her anointed profession sends out the message to young aspirants that when there is a will there is a way. Little Melba and Her Big Trombone parallels the social indignities hoisted upon the African-American community that were examined exhaustively in Powell and Christian Robinson’s picture book on Josephine Baker (“whites only”) Much like the protagonist of that spirited real-life story, Liston was born with her special propensity from an young age in music infested Kansas City. The year she entered the world was 1926, this this swinging mid-America city was a hotbed for jazz, and the main fix for programmers. From her earliest remembrances Melba was attuned to the sounds of blues, jazz and gospel (author Katheryn Russell-Brown sizes this up in more specific terms as “the plink of a guitar, the hummmm of a bass, the thrum-thrum of a drum, the ping-pang of a piano, the tremble of a sweet horn) and during the run of those formidable years notes and rhythms occupy her during the day and at night, when her sleeping hours were curtailed. The old-fashioned box radio in the family room was another source for musical satiation, and the course-voiced piano virtuoso Fats Waller was a favorite. Her player piano skills coaxed domestic dance session in her home. Then, at age seven, she convinced her mom to buy her a trombone at a traveling music store, though the very idea of a little girl playing such a long and unwieldy instrument brought on laughter. Melba, though, was an only child, and she granted her request.
The road to trombone mastery was an arduous one, but with the support and management of her guitar-playing Uncle John she tilted her head sideways, and stretched out her right arm, and after some trial and tribulation she spend late hours, until she could play a simple tune by herself. Embracing the work ethic ‘practice makes perfect’ Melba, Melba was invited to play a solo at the local radio station, with Mama and Uncle John proudly looking on. The 30’s brought on difficult times economically, and Melba and her mom moved to Los Angeles, where her teachers, impressed with her academic brilliance, had her skip the seventh grade. In high school she produced soulful music during sessions for an after-class music club, where she incurred the hurtful envy of other students who simply couldn’t keep up with her. In 1943, at age seventeen she was invited to tour the country with a new band led by trumpet player Gerald Wilson, and her talent truly blossomed when she began writing her own music.
Says Russell-Brown: “Melba became a master musician. She composed and arranged music, spinning rhythms, harmonies, and melodies into gorgeous songs. And when Melba played the trombone, her both notes and one-of-a-kind sound mesmerized the crowd.” As the only woman in the band Melba was lonely and often downtrodden. These feelings were accentuated during her trip to the racist south with Billie Holiday, when they were forbidden entry to some restaurants, forced to sleep on the bus, and were on the receiving end of bad manners. This nearly convinced Melba to end her career. But she soldiered on after fans sent her love and support. Her concert skills and music were in big demand with the likes of such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Quincy Jones, all of whom wanted to play her music. She soon became a worldwide sensation, and dazzled audiences with her larger than life talent.
Frank Morrison’s rapturous and spirited oil paintings elevate Little Melba and her Big Trombone to the status of picture book classic. His rich, colorful and evocative art exudes grand style that is fully attuned to the full-bodied and soulful nature of the jazz form. The cover, showcasing little Melba negotiating an instrument twice her size is an arresting image set against luscious sweet potato hue and purple lettering. Throughout the book Morrison offers up vibrant, life-affirming art that defiantly dismisses all the ugliness of that time, instead focusing on how a child with passion and fortitude can make good with a positive mind-set. Book lovers saw much of the same in two books about aspiring ballerinas this past year, Firebird and A Dance Like Starlight, and it is a glorious message for kids to find their own way through life’s difficulties. There’s a real style and movement in Morrison’s joyous art that well has earned serious attention from the committee. Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is as accomplished as any picture book of 2014.
Note: This is the forty-sixth entry in the 2014 Caldecott Medal Contender series. The series does not purport to predict what the committee will choose, rather it attempts to gauge what the writer feels should be in the running. In most instances the books that are featured in the series have been touted as contenders in various online round-ups, but for the ones that are not, the inclusions are a humble plea to the committee for consideration. It is anticipated the series will include at least 40 titles; the order which they are being presented in is arbitrary, as every book in this series is a contender. Some of my top favorites of the lot will be done near the end. The awards will be announced on February 2nd, hence the reviews will continue to the end of January.
