There is so much to love in this album. The Norwegian all-female quartet Spunk has delivered a solid second opus, showing a commanding growth in the group's evolution. Den Overste Toppen Pa en Blamalt Flaggstang, a title that translates to "The Very Top of a Blue-Painted Flagpole," refers (once again) to the children's book character Pippi Longstocking. The identification between the redheaded hellraiser and this group is genuine: the music goes through various levels of charm, wittiness, playfulness, intelligence, and mischief. Spunk allies traditional acoustic instruments (cello, trumpet, French horn), live sampling and electronics, and an array of toys and kitchen percussion. The approach integrates "serious," British school-derived free improv and noise-making. Lene Grenager's cello acts as a reference point since it is almost continually present (her playing, on the other hand, can mutate from romantic to extra screechy). Everything around her changes, turning each track into a surprise. Highlights include "Kamelmusikk," a call to seduction led by a recorder; the toy-ridden "Togturen Til Andes"; and "Sing a-Long." In the latter, Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje gives her voice a full workout. Her range and vocabulary build a bridge between Bj”rk and Phil Minton. "Strom" sounds like the trumpet of Bill Dixon caught in an electrical storm engineered by Merzbow. Spunk has created a signature sound that remains non-confining. It results in some of the freshest, most thought-provoking music this reviewer has heard in a while. Highly recommended. ~ Fran‡ois Couture

With his ARTizen Music Group debut Babysoul, 26-year-old Jackiem Joyner is the latest saxophonist in contemporary jazz history to musically chronicle the experience of emerging from the ranks of extraordinarily busy sideman to center stage on his first recording. An instantly engaging, soulful release, Babysoul will astound listeners with its musicality and accessibility. After several years of playing with keyboard greats Marcus Johnson and Bobby Lyle and saxophonist Jaared, co-headlining a 30 city tour in 2004 with Ronnie Laws and jazz and soul singers Angela Bofill and Jean Carne, and opening gigs for everyone from India Arie to Boney James, Spyro Gyra and George Benson, Joyner took a full year off to focus on writing and recording an album that marks his status as “a baby coming into the world, a new soul emerging into the music business.” Babysoul is more than just a title- it is a true description of his professional re-birthing. Jackiem's insistent and seemingly limitless invention on the thumpin’, finger snapping title track is all about the urgency of getting out there and showing everyone what he’s got. Thinking back on dealing with difficult characters on the business side of things along the way, "Elevation" finds Jackiem in a retrospective place ruminating upon his life so far in the music business while the tune's ebullient character suggests an inner resolution and dedication to move only onward and upward. The dreamy, ambient closer “Innocence” strips away the obstacles and gives him a fresh, optimistic mindset towards the future. Considering that this past New Year’s Eve, he held his own jamming onstage during the Jazz Spectacular at the Hyatt Regency in La Jolla, California with genre greats Gerald Albright, Richard Elliot, Jeff Golub and Peter White—whose graceful acoustic guitar graces Babysoul’s sensual, soprano driven first single “Stay With Me Tonight”—it’s clearly a gift that comes naturally to Joyner. “For this record, I’m really trying to communicate the soulful sound I have cultivated as much as possible,” he says, “delivering the message that I’m not only an emotionally strong player, but also technically on par. I have the best of both worlds on Babysoul, with a lot of dance groove elements up front and then the second half of the disc that slows down into a slightly more romantic mindset. Even during the time that I was growing as a sideman, it felt right for me to step up front and take solos.

These 24 tracks are prime swing classics from the likes of Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, and Count Basie. This extraordinarily thorough two-disc collection contains every hit dance tune of the 1940s, and even some that time has forgotten.

In the fall of 2002, the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.) opened an intimate venue, The KC Jazz Club, on the roof level of its facility. The Club celebrated its opening with two weekends of selected MAXJAZZ artists. The highly acclaimed pianist, Mulgrew Miller, and his trio featuring Derrick Hodge (b) and Rodney Green (d) were the featured performers on the Clubs opening night, Thursday, September 5, 2002. MAXJAZZ is proud to present the first of two sets from that magical evening recorded by the late David Baker.