"Just 4 Kicks is an a cappella vocal jazz quartet." That's kind of like saying the Empire State Building is a skyscraper. It's true, but it doesn't begin to describe the experience of hearing this amazing wacky, virtuoso vocal jazz ensemble for the first time.

Four uniquely talented and musically successful vocalists from the West Coast, each with independent careers in the music industry, were thrust together at several Northwest jazz festivals in 1993, and a quartet emerged! Just 4 Kicks' Kirby Shaw, from Ashland, Oregon, is one of the most well-known choral and vocal jazz composers/arrangers of our time. Randy Crenshaw is among the first-call studio singers and arrangers in Los Angeles. Four Freshmen alumnus Kirk Marcy directs the internationally-acclaimed vocal jazz ensemble Soundsation at Edmonds Community College, just north of Seattle. Vijay Singh, widely known for his versatility as a composer, arranger, soloist, and director of the vocal jazz program at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, rounds out the quartet.

Just 4 Kicks began as a diversion from these active careers in a spirit of fun and spontaneous musicality. Now, to their great surprise and delight, this talented group finds themselves in demand at jazz festivals and clinics throughout the United States and Canada. With the release of their fourth CD, entitled "JOYFUL NOISE," Just 4 Kicks covers even more stylistic ground than ever before, singing a wildly adventurous all-new set of sacred material, arranged by the four Kickboyz themselves. Ranging far afield, from reggae, gospel/funk, and bluegrass, to classical choral, calypso, swing, and hymn tunes, they happily expand the parameters of a cappella vocal group singing, while retaining their love for spontaneous vocal improvisation and their signature collective sense of humor.

Since putting their quartet together, Just 4 Kicks has become a staple at jazz festivals, clinics, and concerts throughout the United States and Canada. As charismatic performers and strong educators, they are able to present themselves and their entertaining art in an engaging way that audiences of every demographic stripe and students of all ages can appreciate, applaud, understand, and learn from.