Children’s music is trash, isn’t it? Take “Baby Shark,” or that Colomelon dross, or anything released by the cringeworthy cover factory Kidz Bop—it’s all a steaming pile of hot commercial garbage that brings youngsters closer to neither great music nor clever songwriting. It wasn’t always this way, though: anyone who remembers those Sesame Street bangers of the seventies to nineties—perhaps best exemplified by “Pinball Countdown,” arranged by Ed Bogas and sung by the Pointer Sisters—will know this to be true.
Mel and Friends clearly remember the good old days, and they’re determined to bring them back. Indiana-born, Kansas-raised Melanie Dill has been writing and performing children’s songs since the birth of her daughter more than 25 years ago. Previous releases include Alphabet Parade (1999) and Rainbow Lemonade (2002), neither of which were—from the snippets I’ve heard online, and the reviews I’ve read—particularly jazzy. That’s all changed with Swingset Serenade, which might just be the ideal introduction to jazz for little listeners.
Within it, bilingual jazz singer Mel (who is also a high school Spanish teacher) and her talented musician friends (all stalwarts of the Kansas City scene, including veteran composer Tom Johnson) have compiled ten terrific tracks which will genuinely delight audiences aged four to fourteen. In fact, forget th
