The Jazz Catz: The Swingin’ Tale of The Catz That Put Jazz on the Map

Name: The Jazz Catz: The Swingin’ Tale of The Catz That Put Jazz on the Map
Author: Benjamin Broyd

Almost exactly a century ago, jazz was born. It would quickly become the defining sound of change in American culture. At the heart of this musical revolution was a band called The Catz, the earliest pioneers of this new sound. The Jazz Catz tells the swinging tale of jazz’s origins, as it moves from New Orleans, its birthplace, to mainstream popularity in Chicago, as seen through the Catz’ eyes – Blues, Tom, Slim and Kitty, the coolest cats in town. Blues, Tom, Kitty and Slim are The Jazz Catz, New Orleans’s pioneers of America’s newest form of musical expression, jazz. In a society controlled by the powerful, but bad, Dogz, the Catz struggle to be heard. After running for their nine lives away from their own underground club in New Orleans, the Catz find themselves playing at Boss Dog’s upmarket club in Chicago, hoping to find fame and fortune with their music without losing their souls. When the group discover that Boss Dog is exploiting the Catz, the band are forced to leave everything behind again. Will the Catz ever land on their feet? Or will the Dogz have their day?

Benjamin Broyd

BEN BROYD is a music journalist. After graduating from Loughborough University with a degree in Media and Communications, and a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from City of London University, Ben began researching the history of music, writing in-depth articles on topics such as ‘Music and Social Change: This is America’, ‘The Role of Underground Music in the Arab Spring’, ‘Around the World: Understanding Foreign Culture Through Music’, as well as writing for various music publications. Unable to find an accessible jazz history book for children, Ben devised The Jazz Catz in 2020 as a way to tell the historically important origins of jazz in a tale that would encourage children to discover new music. Ben lives in Brighton. This is his first book.