My kids love jazz. We can listen to John Coltrane albums on endless repeat thanks to a single animator, Michal Levy, who explores "the visualization of sound." When my daughter was a few months old, my husband discovered Levy's animation for Coltrane's Giant Steps. She was riveted.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV4Iwh6Kl1c[/youtube]
We showed the animation to our 1-year-old and he had the same response. Every time he sees a computer screen he points at it with a "That! That!" until we play him a video, though he's come to prefer a different Michal Levy animation, One.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qypqwcrO3YE[/youtube]
I'm a visual person, so I thought that it was primarily the animations that grabbed baby's attention. But when we listen to albums (Giant Steps in particular), the jazz has a soothing quality that captures their attention in a similar way, even still for my daughter who is now six.
If you like jazz, these animations are a great gateway for your kids.
