Welcome to another music edition of Mini Media Mogul. Here are four CDs we've been listening to recently, arranged from our favorite to our least loved.

Pop Fly by Justin Roberts

Pop Fly isn't a new album, but it accomplished something that no other children’s CD has ever done - it literally made me squeal with delight when a scared little boy catches a pop fly ball (in the wonderfully energetic title track). Then, just a few songs later, it made my eyes well with tears with the beautiful “From Scratch,” a tribute to a grandmother who cooks everything from scratch.

This is our first experience with Justin Roberts, but certainly won't be our last. His voice is similar in tone to James Taylor's, but the songs are primarily lighthearted, entertaining slices of life about the elementary school years. They will bring you back to the best parts of your own childhood.

With subjects ranging from the student crossing guard to pool kickboards and stay-at-home dads (“If I were giving grades, he'd get a B or an A”), this collection hits just the right chord.

High Roller by Hullabaloo

Hullabaloo is a children's band for people who like country/folk/bluegrass music. The lyrics on the catchy High Roller often move fast, so you have to pay attention, but it’s worth it - they’re really funny. (“Sometimes things get crazy back home in my crib/ Sometimes I eat breakfast wearing nothing but a bib.”) They mix originals with a few traditional songs.

You can figure out if you like their style on the band's YouTube page, which has plenty of good samples. Their ode to caffeinated moms, "Sippy Cup" (not on this album), made me laugh out loud:

Rockin', Rollin' and Ridin' by Rebecca Frezza and Big Truck

You may recognize this band from their music videos on Nick Jr. and PBS. I'd never seen them before, and this eight-song EP is the first I've heard of this band.

It's high-energy pop written with elementary-school-age kids in mind. One of the album's selling points is that one song features Roscoe Orman, better known as Gordon from Sesame Street - but this was a letdown because the song is in too high a key for him, and it just sounds like he's straining.

Overall, this one's a mixed bag. Out of only 8 songs (23 minutes running time), I thought about half were entirely forgettable, with lyrics that didn’t do anything for me, but the other half were fun and danceable. My daughter was already singing along with “Hey-O” before the end of the song the very first time she heard it.

Somersault Season by Laura Freeman

I have a feeling Laura Freeman must be a hit in person with little kids. That doesn’t automatically translate to a good CD, though. I'm iffy on it; she's very “dramatic” on Somersault Season, and into using weird voices and repetition, which got grating to me. If I were a completely selfless person, I'd probably let my daughter listen to this again - but I'm actually afraid she’d like it.

That said, it's a compilation of songs about the four seasons, and has plenty of opportunities for kids to “play along” and help act out the songs. This might work well in a preschool or day care setting.

Jenna Glatzer is the author of 19 books. Her latest is the inspirational Christian memoir Unthinkable with Scott Rigsby, a double-amputee who completed the Hawaiian Ironman. Visit her at www.jennaglatzer.com. - Jenna G.

Amazon.com has a no-questions-asked, free MP3 download section that offers hundreds of tracks that I hear rotate frequently. There's a lot of good stuff here, and cheapskate/obsessives like us will certainly be poring through it. There are even some fun kids' tracks! [Via A Freebies Free For All] - Jennifer

There's not much that can pull me out of a funk faster than some good ole Dixieland Jazz. The first time I saw a Dixieland jazz band, I was about 12 years old and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band had come to play a performance in my town. I still remember them playing "When the Saints Go Marchin' In" and playing and marching their way off the stage and through the audience until there was a huge Dixie style conga line marching and dancing and singing with the band. I've since seen Dixieland in New Orleans, San Francisco, Prague and Budapest (where I encountered one of the world's best Dixieland bands, Hot Jazz Band). So it was with more than a little anticipation that I put on a couple of Dixieland CDs for Z and I to listen to lately.

We started out with Dixieland Jazz for Children by Johnette Downing and Jimmy LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band. You can buy it on CD or for just $9 in MP3 format - Amazon's MP3 page for the album has samples of every song.

Z's favorite song on this CD by far is the first one, "Dixieland Jazz' - "Dixieland Jazz, Dixieland Jazz the best jazz in the land..." - the song then goes on to introduce all the different instruments in the standard Dixieland Jazz band. Other favorite songs from the album include "Throw Me Something Mister" - all about getting some beads and doubloons from a float in a Mardi Gras parade (I can't wait to take Z to a proper Mardi Gras parade), "I've Got Happy Feet" - which for some reason reminds me of that famous New Orleans con where the con bets the mark that he can tell you where you got your shoes. (The answer plays on the New Orleans' substitution of "you've" with "you," and it's whatever street you're standing on - if you're on Decatur, for example, it's "you got your shoes on Decatur right now.") But the song is really about dancing your way through New Orleans.

Then we turned on Putumayo Kids' New Orleans Playground. This is a compilation of songs from different jazz musicians which we first reviewed here and of course, Z's favorite song was Hack Bartholomew's "When the Saints Go Marchin' In." You also really can't beat a Dr. John rendition of "Row Row Your Boat" or Buckwheat Zydeco's "Skip to My Blues." You can hear short song clips from this album on Amazon as well.

The only video I could find to represent either of these CDs is an awesome video of one of my favorite Dixieland artists, Ingrid Lucia, singing "Do They Play Jazz in Heaven?" with Irvin Mayfield. It isn't on either of these CDs (why not offer some samples on YouTube, folks?) but it's a great video and if you aren't familiar with Dixieland, it'll give you a taste of what's in store on these CDs. It's a great style of music young children can easily relate to and that gets them moving. Best of all, it's just as much fun for the parents, who can enjoy the musicianship, drive, and mood-lifting melodies as well as the genre's varied subject matter.



Both are great CDs, and highly recommended for your little toe-tapper! - Jennifer

Combining elements from Latin music, jazz, folk rock and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Hot Peas 'N Butter has created a series of kids' album parents can enjoy too. We dug this CD out out a couple of weeks ago and Z has been demanding to listen to it daily ever since.

The band has caught on in a big way, with videos appearing last year on both NOGGIN and Nickelodeon, and you can see why. Hot Peas 'N Butter makes the kind of music that compels to you to get up off the couch and move. We've found ourselves dancing while folding clothes, dancing while cooking, and dancing while dancing! (Have we mentioned that Z loves to dance?)

Funky track "Jack-A-Lacka" is a favorite in our house, causing Z to do a little booty shakin'. Here's the band performing it:


And the band recently released videos of several more songs. Some of them are on YouTube, but they aren't embeddable and they have higher-quality versions on their own website, where you can also preview tracks from Volume 4, The Pod Squad. - Jennifer

Late folk legend Dave Van Ronk recorded a version of "Peter and the Wolf" that we've been digging on lately. Z is intimately familiar with both the story and the music of Peter and the Wolf - a favorite game of ours around the house is to quiz each other: "Which sound does the wolf make Z?" "Buuuuuh dah dah dah dah dah dah da da da da daaaaaa" (Yeah, it's hard to type - you can find a clip of each character's theme here.) Van Ronk put his on twist on the story by recording Peter and the Wolf using jug band instruments, and it's so much fun. Seriously, could there possibly be anything cooler?

Peter is the fiddle, the bird a penny whistle, the duck a kuzoo, grandpa is a mandolin, cat is a clarinet, hunters are a "snappy guitar," the wolf is "three deep voices" humming the wolf theme. Also included are a guitar, banjo, a jug and more instruments! Really, you've got to hear it to appreciate it!

The CD also includes six other songs, including one which Van Ronk describes as his "theme song," "Green, Green Rocky Road." It's a bit mellower than the "Peter and the Wolf" but you can get a taste of Van Ronk's talent and style in the video below.



This fun album is an easy ZRecs Top Pick. Its fusion of the jug band style and instrumentation with the classic story and music of "Peter and the Wolf" is a treat for any family. - Jennifer

AudibleKids is giving away three audio books to celebrate Roscoe Orman (Gordon on Sesame Street) joining their voice talent supergroup. Orman narrates Sarah Pennypacker's Clementine, and one of the three, Ricky & Mobo, was even written by Roscoe Orman (he narrates it too). The third, the Barack Obama biography for kids, Yes We Can, is nearly four hours long and targeted for kids ages 13 and up (a little younger for a listening audience). I'm downloading all three, the first two for Z's aural snacking now - audio books have been a big hit with her since we started producing our own kids' audiobooks - and I'll pick up the Obama bio to stash away for a few years. You can get all three free kids' audiobooks here.

[Via Baby Cheapskate] - Jennifer