Album Notes

Welcome to JOYFUL NOISE! For those of you already familiar with Just 4 Kicks, this is a bit of a departure from our previous recorded efforts, yet we hope you’ll find it to be just as enjoyable and spirited as our earlier discs.

This album came about in as serendipitous a manner as Just 4 Kicks itself. A couple of years ago, we received a phone call from Paul Klemme, a dear friend and colleague who is the Minister of Music at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Salem, Oregon. He produces a monthly concert series in conjunction with an evensong service at St. Paul’s. Paul asked if Just 4 Kicks would consider doing an upcoming event. His parameters were simple… “It needs to be all sacred music, but it needs to be Just 4 Kicks!” After a brief ‘circling of the wagons’, we accepted the challenge, knowing that we really didn’t have 45 minutes worth of music in the J4K book that would be suitable for this concert.

We had endured, as many live music performers, a noticeable drop in bookings after 9/11, and had become somewhat invisible as a group. This new opportunity might be just the kind of rejuvenation that J4K needed. Almost immediately, the creative juices began to flow within the quartet. We began to kick around ideas for titles, grooves, for this concert. It was a true renaissance for Just 4 Kicks. Not since our first musical encounters, well over 15 years ago, had we experienced such enthusiasm for the possibilities that came about through Paul’s invitation. In typical J4K fashion, we each wrote arrangements, then convened in Seattle for a weekend reading session and rehearsal. It was a magical day to say the least. Just 4 Kicks had, in part, reinvented itself, if only for a single concert.

Needless to say, the event at St. Paul’s in Salem was a huge success. Those in attendance that sunny Sunday evening in June of 2008, included many ‘fans’ of J4K, along with members of the St. Paul’s congregation and others who were regulars of the concert series. It was pretty obvious to us that in time, we would find ourselves in the studio, recording a whole new book of tunes.

As you can see from the list of songs, there is much diversity in JOYFUL NOISE. From Sermonette and Come Sunday, both associated with the jazz tradition, to Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Loves the Little Children, right out of Sunday School, to Bob Dylan classics, we hope that there is something for everyone on this disc.

Whatever your palate desires, we thank you for allowing us to make JOYFUL NOISE in your presence.

Blessings to you,

Randy, Kirk, Kirby and Vijay