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“At last: a jazz book that thrillingly, exhilaratingly, palpitatingly gets it.” That’s what Kirkus Reviews<\/em> wrote of Jazz ABZ: A Collection of Jazz Portraits from A to Z<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Candlewick, 2005) by Wynton Marsalis<\/strong><\/a> and illustrated by today’s guest for seven questions over breakfast, Paul Rogers<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n Remember this flat-out beautiful book from a few years ago, what Publishers Weekly<\/em> called “a must for anyone who has ever been drawn to a scat by Ella or a riff from Miles or who has whirled around the dance floor courtesy of Count Basie”? Marsalis used a dizzying array of poetic forms—from a rondeau to a pantoum to a sonnet to MUCH more—to pay a bold, illuminating tribute to twenty-six outstanding jazz performers, his collaboration with Paul its own improvisational wonder. Paul is pictured in the opening photo from a few years ago with his son, Nate, “having a late night breakfast in Baltimore at Sip n’ Bite.” And Paul’s 7-Imp breakfast-of-choice this morning? “Scrambled eggs, bacon, and a side of wheat toast sounds like a good idea, but I always regret it afterwards.<\/font> I usually start the day with black coffee and a Lipitor.”<\/p>\n Paul has a brand-new illustrated title out, just released last month from Simon and Schuster\/Atheneum: Forever Young<\/strong><\/a><\/em> is a picture book adaptation of Bob Dylan’s 1973 song by the same name, which ultimately landed on his 14th studio album, Planet Waves<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. And because I think Paul’s work is exciting—not to mention a big corner of my heart is devoted to picture books about music, particularly jazz—I thought I’d invite him over to talk a bit about the new title and<\/em> his work as an illustrator. <\/p>\n Paul, as you will read below, teaches illustration. Forever Young<\/em> is his second illustrated title, but he’s been hard at work since 1980 as an award-winning illustrator and designer, creating poster art<\/strong><\/a>, editorial illustrations<\/strong><\/a>, murals<\/strong><\/a>, sports illustrations and poster art<\/strong><\/a>, and logos<\/strong><\/a>, stating in 2006 at this blog<\/strong><\/a> that he actually considers himself more of a graphic designer than an illustrator. Here are but a few examples of some of that work: <\/p>\n In the new title, Dylan’s lyrics are given a new interpretation through Paul’s eyes. He uses them to show us the growth of a musician and activist who is most assuredly not Dylan, yet the book is a treasure trove of Dylan references; the book is rife with what Publishers Weekly<\/em> calls visual shout-outs to Dylan’s career, adding “{b}aby boomers will have a blast decoding it all.” In fact, he closes the book with “Illustrator’s Notes,” which include thumbnails of each spread and the visual references therein. Occasionally, he throws in some modest music recommendations in these notes and gives nods to the reader (“That’s a Siamese cat from ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ keeping an eye on things, but you probably already noticed that.”) His cartoon style in the book is a far cry from the album-cover art of Jazz ABZ<\/em>, but what remains consistent is the superb design, composition, and energy. And the element of nostalgia for both of Paul’s titles captivates, robustly and reverently paying tribute to the musicians within, yet managing to never be too cloying. <\/p>\n Here’s my very favorite illustration for the book — but which is not from<\/em> the book. Writes Paul at his www.drawger.com<\/strong><\/a> site, “Woody Guthrie\u2019s influence on Dylan was immeasurable, the first song Bob wrote was ‘Song to Woody’ and he name-checks Cisco, Sonny and Leadbelly too. This illustration was an early style exploration that didn\u2019t make it into the book.”<\/p>\n Let’s get the basics from Paul while we set the table here for our seven questions over breakfast, and I thank him again for stopping by. <\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Are you an illustrator or author\/illustrator?<\/font><\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: Illustrator. <\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Can you list your books-to-date?<\/font><\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: Jazz ABZ : An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, Wynton Marsalis<\/strong><\/a>, with Phil Schaap<\/strong><\/a>; Candlewick Press, 2005. Forever Young<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, Bob Dylan<\/strong><\/a>; Simon and Schuster\/Atheneum 2008.<\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: What is your usual medium, or -\u2013 if you use a variety -\u2013 your preferred one?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: For Jazz ABZ<\/em>, the illustrations were painted with acrylics and ink. Everything was done by hand using traditional tools, airbrush, pen etc. The drawings for Forever Young<\/em> were drawn with pen on paper, and then scanned and the color was applied using a computer and Adobe Illustrator.<\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: If you have illustrated for various age ranges (such as, both picture books and early reader books OR, say, picture books and chapter books), can you briefly discuss the differences, if any, in illustrating for one age group to another? <\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: Jazz ABZ<\/em> is a picture book for all ages. Although we used the format of an ABC book, the illustrations weren\u2019t done like a traditional children\u2019s book. I sort of thought of them as album covers for records that never were released.<\/p>\n Simon and Schuster\/Atheneum wanted Forever Young<\/em> to be a real picture book aimed at ages 4-12 and their parents. It was a challenge to adapt the lyrics to one of Bob Dylan\u2019s most loved songs for a children\u2019s book. At first, I thought about doing a series of drawings that followed the ideas of the lyrics, rather than a narrative. Ginee Seo and Ann Bobco at Atheneum had the idea for a story about a boy who is given a guitar by a folksinger, grows up using music as a way to make connections with people, and learns about the world around him. At the end of the story, he passes the guitar on to a little girl. That gave the book a nice structure \u2014 a beginning, middle and end. I had the idea of setting the story in New York City in the early sixties and that gave me the chance to fill the pictures with references to Dylan\u2019s life and lyrics, and to people who had an impact on his life. The goal was to make a book that parents could read to their children, and would not disappoint Dylan\u2019s fans. There was no way this was going to be a book about little Bobby Dylan growing up, or something corny \u2013 and I wanted to do something that I imagined Dylan would like.<\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Where are your stompin\u2019 grounds?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: Pasadena, CA. I\u2019ve lived in Los Angeles my whole life.<\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Can you briefly tell us about your road to publication?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: After graduating from Art Center College of Design<\/strong><\/a> in 1980, I\u2019ve worked as a freelance illustrator, producing work for advertising and editorial clients. Jazz ABZ<\/em> had a very long road to publication. I got the idea for the book around 1994 and worked on the illustrations between my other assignments. Wynton and I met on another project and struck up a friendship, and I asked him if he would write something for the book when I finished the illustrations. He said yes, and over the years we\u2019d talk about the book, as I was slowly making my way through the alphabet, never really sure if the project would ever see the light of day. In 2002, I was about halfway through and we started showing the illustrations to publishers. Karen Lotz and Chris Paul at Candlewick Press loved the idea and we signed contracts for a 2005 release \u2014 and then the pace really picked up. I finished the remainder of the illustrations within months, Wynton wrote the poems, and my wife, graphic designer Jill von Hartmann<\/strong><\/a>, handled the book design and made everything look beautiful. <\/p>\n Forever Young<\/em> had a very fast timeframe. Ginee Seo called to see if I\u2019d be interested in working on a project with Bob Dylan. They sent a few illustrated books to Dylan for him to pick an illustrator and he liked Jazz ABZ<\/em>, so I was in. We sent everything over to Dylan\u2019s office for approval (there was no real reason to chat directly with him). Everyone liked what we were doing and the whole book went very smoothly.<\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Can you please point us to your web site and\/or blog?<\/font><\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: paulrogersstudio.com<\/strong><\/a>; drawger.com\/paulrogers<\/strong><\/a> (a fantastic site of about 80 illustrator\u2019s blogs); http:\/\/illoz.com\/paulrogers\/<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: If you do school visits, tell us what they\u2019re like.<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: I mostly visit art schools and talk to illustration students. Forever Young<\/em> is just out, it\u2019s my first real picture book and I haven\u2019t done any visits to elementary schools. My mom reads books to a first-grade class every week, and she has started working it into her rotation of books. Something about that cracks me up.<\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: If you teach illustration, by chance, tell us how that influences your work as an illustrator.<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: I teach at Art Center in Pasadena<\/strong><\/a>. The students are remarkably smart and talented and are working hard towards illustration careers. They\u2019ve probably had more influence on me than I\u2019ve had on them. As an illustrator\/instructor, you have to produce work in the studio that backs up the things you\u2019re saying in the classroom. You can\u2019t be phony. Students respect good work and can also be very hard on work that doesn\u2019t measure up.<\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Any new titles\/projects you might be working on now that you can tell us about?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: Wynton Marsalis and I are working on another book for Candlewick Press. He\u2019s written twelve short poems about sounds that a young child can recognize and the types of musical instruments that make those sounds. It will be a picture book for young readers. I also have a couple of other ideas that are percolating.<\/p>\n 1.<\/font> 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: What exactly is your process when you are illustrating a book? You can start wherever you\u2019d like when answering: getting initial ideas, starting to illustrate, or even what it\u2019s like under deadline, etc. Do you outline a great deal of the book before you illustrate or just let your muse lead you on and see where you end up?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: I\u2019ve done two books and they both took form in different ways. The idea for Jazz ABZ<\/em> came to me while I was at the ballet. Swan Lake<\/em> was beautiful, but I was struggling to stay awake and began running a list of jazz musicians in my head to see if I could think of one for every letter of the alphabet. The next day, I wrote down the list, and the book began taking form. My idea was to make some portraits of jazz musicians that included the letters of their names, and used a visual style for each one that communicated something about their music and personality. When the illustrations were done, I sent copies of them to Wynton and he wrote poems for each one. He did the same thing with words that I did with the pictures; he chose poetic forms that matched the artist\u2019s music and personality, and then wrote alliterative poetry that communicates to the reader his ideas about these great names in jazz. My wife, Jill von Hartmann, is a brilliant graphic designer, and she is the one with all the good ideas. The binding is designed to look like an old 78 rpm album, and we\u2019re both very particular about how the typography works with the illustrations. To me, it\u2019s all one big thing, images and words on a page, and as I work on a book I always see the whole thing as a unit. <\/p>\n Forever Young<\/em> took a more traditional approach to a picture book. Once we had the story, and had worked out the pacing to parallel the lyrics, I did small sketches to figure out what would be shown on each page. Each spread has the sense of a stage-set with a lot of space for the characters and the details about Dylan that I wanted to include. I listened to nearly every Dylan record, read a lot of interviews, and re-read Dylan\u2019s memoir Chronicles, Volume One<\/strong><\/a><\/em>. I kept a list of things to include and, as the illustrations took form, I found places to put these details. The scratchy line and spongey brush textures where borrowed from one of my favorite American artists, Ben Shahn<\/strong><\/a>. I also looked at some animated films from the late fifties and early sixties for ideas about making complex scenes look fresh. <\/p>\n 2.<\/font> 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Describe your studio or usual work space for us.<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: My studio is in Old Pasadena in a building from 1929. I\u2019ve collected a lot of books over the years and I\u2019ve also got a lot of records here from the pre-iTunes days. I\u2019m in the studio just about every day but Sunday, unless I\u2019m on a big deadline, so it\u2019s nice to have a good space to work in and to have my stuff around me. Jill\u2019s studio is across the hall, and unless my music is too loud, the doors are open. <\/p>\n 3.<\/font> 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: As book lovers, it interests us: What books or authors and\/or illustrators influenced you as an early reader?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: As a kid, I read comics, and my mom would take my brother and me to the library every two weeks to check out a stack of books. It never occurred to me that I could illustrate books until later. When I started looking at children\u2019s books and thinking about them seriously, I looked at Paul Rand<\/strong><\/a>, M. Sasek<\/strong><\/a>, Aurelius Battaglia<\/strong><\/a>, and Bruno Munari<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n 4.<\/font> 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: If you could have three (living) illustrators or author\/illustrators—whom you have not yet met—over for coffee or a glass of rich, red wine, whom would you choose?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: That\u2019s a tough one. I\u2019ve met a number of book illustrators I admire whom I\u2019d like to have coffee with, including Maira Kalman<\/strong><\/a>, Gary Kelley<\/strong><\/a>, Kadir Nelson<\/strong><\/a>, Seymour Chwast<\/strong><\/a>, Jim McMullan<\/strong><\/a>, and Chris Raschka<\/strong><\/a>. But to pick three, it would be my with my friends, Marla Frazee<\/strong><\/a>, Noah Woods<\/strong><\/a>, and Calef Brown<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n 5.<\/font> 7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: What is currently in rotation on your iPod or loaded in your CD player? Do you listen to music while you create books?<\/font><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/Buhaina.jpg\")
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“May you always know the truth \/ And see the lights surrounding you”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\nOkay, the table’s set. We’re good-to-go with our strong coffee, though I think I’ll pass on the Lipitor. In fact, I might serve up some of those scrambled eggs and wheat toast and talk him into having some with me. In any case, we’re ready to talk more specifics . . . <\/font> <\/p>\n
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\nPaul<\/font><\/strong>: I always work with music on and the selection varies, according to what I\u2019m doing. I listened to a lot of Dylan while I was working on Forever Young<\/em>. I wasn\u2019t one of those obsessive fans who know arcane details about Dylan, but the more I listened, the deeper the well seemed to be. Like Duke Ellington, Dylan has had a long career and he made so much good music in every era. I have more jazz music on my iPod than any thing else, but there\u2019s a good variety, too. Here\u2019s a list from iTunes Party Shuffle that\u2019s playing right now: Herb Albert<\/strong><\/a>,