Sweet spot is a golf term to describe the target area where the club must meets the ball in order to place it exactly where the golfer intends. It also has a sexual connotation that we won’t elaborate on but it is also the name of a new local group that recently released their first, self-titled CD. Sweet Spot was formed in early 1998 by Uptown guitarist Ray Busche and, to quote their press materials, they are “a collective of soul, funk and jazz.” That they definitely are—with a little Latin rhythm thrown in for good measure. The group features Busche on guitar, Evan Ehrhardt on percussion and keyboards, Jason Sellers on tenor sax, Jeff Sutton on trumpet, Mitch Caponetto on drums and Natascha Bolden on vocals. All of the album’s ten tracks are original compositions. The first nine were written by Busche and the final track, a seven-minute instrumental titled “CTI,” was composed by Sellers. The collective sound of the group, dominated by Natascha Bolden’s overpowering vocals, is a raw, unpolished product that lacks the smooth coating applied to most studio-generated records today. But the raw, raunchy sound appears to be deliberate. Sweet Spot is not about studio gimmickry and the latest innovations in sound technology. At times their style calls to mind late ’60s supergroup, Electric Flag (which featured Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Miles and other top-rated musicians in a fusion of jazz, pop and rock), along with funk bands like Kool and the Gang and the Meters. They have a nice sound, rollicking and freewheeling on most of the tracks, hitting their peak midway through the album in “Here in My Mind.” On this number, Bolden gets to display her wide vocal range, with Busche’s smooth guitar work laying the foundation and a pleasant, muted sax solo by Sellers is lagniappe to this fine track. Unfortunately, Sweet Spot has some rough spots such as in “You and Me” where the sax and trumpet seem to be fighting each other and the too-mechanical-sounding keyboard bass lines on most of the tracks are no substitute for a real bass. Everything comes together, though, on “CTI” in which Busche, Ehrhardt, Sellers and Sutton all get their chance to shine on solos. Overall, for fans of the funk/soul/jazz genre, this is an album worth buying.