JAZZ My Music, My People. Written and illustrated by Morgan Monceaux. 64 pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $18. (All ages)

JAZZ. Be-bop. Scat. Swing. Familiar words that evoke specific sounds and feelings. But to define these terms is something else altogether, and once they are defined, keeping the edges of the definitions from shifting and swaying is an endless challenge. The fluidity of the creation of jazz and the flow of the many musical streams and tributaries it spawned is best followed through the work of the great musicians and singers themselves, but books about jazz can add another pleasurable dimension.

In "Jazz: My Music, My People," Morgan Monceaux offers a concise, fascinating and stunningly illustrated history of the world of jazz from the early days of Buddy Bolden, Leadbelly and Bessie Smith to modern greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald.

Mr. Monceaux grew up in Alexandria, La., the son of a locally popular female blues singer known as Johnetta. He and his sister would sometimes go to New Orleans to hear their mother sing in a nightclub, but they loved best sitting by her side at the piano at home. She told the children: "Never forget the long, hard past history of your people. Your audiences will hear it in your music when you sing."

Her son, who wanted to be a jazz singer, went on to study music and theology. Now, after years of un focused wanderings, he is an accomplished painter living in New York City. He won national attention in 1992 when The New Yorker published a profile of him, accompanied by a selection of Presidential portraits from his series "George to George." But music is still part of every day of his life. "I wanted to put my emotional response to music into paintings," he writes in his introduction. "And I wanted to tell the stories of the performers who brought their own experiences and emotions as Americans and African-Americans to their concerts and jam sessions and recordings."

In "Jazz: My Music, My People," Mr. Monceaux covers a long time span and a considerable number of individuals. He introduces most of his biographical vignettes with a personal remembrance or association, followed by brief but satisfying stories of the performers' lives that hit the high points and spotlight their special significance. There is also a lovely piece of lagniappe in the warm, thoughtful foreword to the book by the contemporary jazz master Wynton Marsalis, in which he ruminates on the legend of Buddy Bolden, the New Orleans trumpeter who has often been called the first jazz musician.

Each written biography is accompanied by a portrait of that singer or musician executed in a combination of paint, pastels, marker and multimedia collage. The colors are rich and bold. Mr. Monceaux captures his subjects with an impressive likeness and adds in collage an object that either was associated with that person or creates an authentic atmosphere. On Duke Ellington's portrait, a pair of white gloves is folded characteristically over his middle. A corsage of flowers frames one side of Billie Holiday's face, and a bunch of lace and ribbon adorns her waist.

Each figure is also surrounded by a halo of writing, filled with anecdotes and additional information. The handwriting moves all around the figure, interwoven with swirls and strokes of color, giving the impression indeed of a visual representation of music.

"Jazz: My Music, My People" is being published as a book for young people, and it is certainly a readily accessible and visually engaging introduction. But truly it is for anyone of any age who is interested in knowing more about the history of jazz. Those who already know and love it will enjoy communing with a man who in word and image shares his deepest feelings about the music he loves.

Marigny Dupuy writes a monthly column on children's books for The New Orleans Times-Picayune and serves on the advisory council of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation.

Monceaux, Morgan. Jazz: My Music, My People

Morgan Monceaux
Gr. 4-up. Monceaux, a musician as well as an accomplished painter, has created a series of biographical sketches that tell the history of jazz music. "With this book," he says in the introduction, "I wanted to put my emotional response to music into paintings. And I wanted to tell the stories of the performers who brought their own experiences and emotions as Americans and African Americans to their concerts and jam sessions and recordings." Monceaux's mother was a jazz singer, and as a child he met many of these great jazz artists, and his personal memories are included in the biographies, as well as significant information about each musician. Each biography is accompanied by a bold, vividly colored painting, which might be either an abstract representation of jazz music or a portrait of one of the musicians. For most subjects, additional text incorporated into the portrait provides further information about the individual. Musicians profiled include such jazz greats such as Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Lena Horne. This attractive work also includes a foreword by Wynton Marsalis and a glossary of jazz terms.