By Wynton Marsalis
208 pages; Random House

"Jazz is the art of timing. It teaches you when. When to start, when to wait, when to step it up, and when to take your time—indispensable tools for making someone else happy." In Moving to Higher Ground (Random House), a joyful primer written with historian Geoffrey C. Ward, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis shows how jazz can change your your life by teaching you to improvise (that is, "make things up that could get you out of a tight spot"), listen, respect, respond to others. Come blow your horn—and let music begin.

— Cathleen Medwick