Go Baby Go

Baby may not love jazz just yet, but boy is (s)he about to: This disc, the first in a series cooked up for Verve by Andy Blackman Hurwitz--who just happens to be the guy behind those nationwide "Baby Loves Disco" parties that allowed parents to shake their groove things in the name of musical education--amounts to a musical motherlode for the roots- and rock-dominated kids' category. It's not just the artists these 17 thoroughly considered tracks trot out (though with Sharon Jones of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Steven Bernstein of Sex Mob, and John Medeski of Medeski, Martin and Wood on board, droppable names abound), it's the attitude. Jazz may be known for its cool cats and smoky sophistication, but here it's pure, fizzy fun. And with depth. "Old MacDonald" becomes a bandleader--one who can bring it--ticking off his players; "Banana Boat Song" sails off somewhere both adults and kids will want to go; and "The Wheels on the Bus" do some funky maneuvering here. Stops in between to highlight individual instruments are smart enough to seem straight out of "Sesame Street," which is to say they're masterful. So is the rest of this disc, down to the red-hot closing sax riff. --Tammy La Gorce