Someone unknown benefactor left this children’s book, Nicky the Jazz Cat, at Cindy’s place a couple of weeks ago, much to our delight. It’s a fun series of photos of Nicky, the cat of photographer Carol Friedman, posing with various jazz greats, including Lionel Hampton, Lena Horn and Roy Eldridge. There’s also a companion CD called "Nicky’s Jazz for Kids" that would be a great introduction to jazz for the little rugrats. (And big kids too. I like nearly all of the tracks on the CD.)
Nicky has sadly passed on at the age of 20 (!!!). Or as Friedman describes it, Nicky is "on the road" and "touring with his favorite musicians." Nicky’s legacy continues on his website featuring fun stuff for jazz kids, including bios of several jazz greats, a place for kid’s to submit their cat art, and links to more jazz educational sites and organizations.