Overview
“When Louis was home in Queens, neighborhood kids would gather around as he brought them into jazz. His music still vibrantly lives around the world, and his spirit of humaneness lives in Travels with Louis by Mick Carlon, teacher of jazz to the young of all ages.”–Nat Hentoff
“Thanks to his friendship with the great Louis Armstrong, twelve-year old Fred sees his world expand from ice cream and baseball in Queens to jazz at the Village Vanguard, a civil rights sit-in in Nashville, and ecstatic concerts in London and Paris. A wonderful story, which rings true on many levels.”–Michael Cogswell, director, Louis Armstrong House Museum
“Carlon is driven by a love divided evenly between the subject and the act of writing itself.”–Brian Morton, author of The Penguin Guide to Jazz
Praise for Mick Carlon’s Riding on Duke’s Train:
“In schools where students are lucky enough to experience classroom jazz studies, this title, combining rich musical history and a ‘you are there’ approach, is a natural.”–Kirkus Reviews
“Enthralling. . . . An adventure story with a smart, historical framework.”–ForeWord, Recommended Books for Kids
“A ripping good yarn.”–Brian Morton
Queens, 1959. Twelve-year-old Fred loves reading, baseball, and playing trumpet with his neighbor, Louis Armstrong. Fred accompanies Louis to Nashville, where he encounters a Civil Rights lunch counter strike, and to London and Paris. Characters include Langston Hughes, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington. Says jazz photographer Jack Bradley, “Reading this book is like visiting my friend again. This is the way he was, folks.”