V is for the “vital, vast, vivacious, vernal voice” of Sarah Vaughan; W for the “woolly wildman, wildman wolf-jawed wizard” Fats Waller, who was “well worth the wait” one windy Wednesday for Wynton Marsalis and his “wonderful wife Wilma”; M for the “mad, majestic mind-boggling music” of Charles Mingus. Jazz ABZ: an A to Z collection of jazz portraits (Walker Books pound;15, pictured) is a stack of 26 album-sleeve-sized paintings by Paul Rogers, with alliterative “jazz poems” by Marsalis, written on the road between gigs. Each poem reflects the musician’s style: blues for Count Basie and an ode for Jelly Roll Morton, who Marsalis says “liked to brag about himself”. It’s won the worldwide Words and Music award, a one-off prize set up by the 2006 International Children’s Book Fair in Bologna, which opens on Monday, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. “A unique contribution to the interweave between music and painting”, say the judges. And a consolation to anyone who wishes they hadn’t got rid of their jazz vinyl.

More Bologna highlights in next week’s TES and at www.tes.co.ukbookmarks.