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, of any race, played brass instruments and were part of the jazz scene.
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..
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.
She joined a band led by trumpet player Gerald Wilson and toured the country.
By the time she was a teenager, Melba\'s extraordinary gift for music led her to the world of jazz.
At age seven, Melba fell in love with a big, shiny trombone, and soon taught herself to play the instrument.
As a child, she daydreamed about beats and lyrics, and hummed along with the music from her family\'s Majestic radio.
Melba Doretta Liston loved the sounds of music from as far back as she could remember.
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, of any race, played brass instruments and were part of the jazz scene
