New Recordings

Raymond v. Raymond

(LaFace ***)

nolead ends Some guys shouldn't be married. Take Usher. The nu-soul singer, who started his career when but a chipper kid, had only just matured into lover-man status with the sweat inducing "Yeah!" when he got hitched. Hardly old enough to have sown his oats, sonic or otherwise. His soon-to-be-married-man next record - 2008's sleepy Here I Am - made the most of fidelity . . . and tanked.

Out with the wife. Back in with the sexy. That's what Raymond v. Raymond is about.

Carnality aside - and there's plenty on cuts like the electro-fueled "So Many Girls" and the pompous "Monstar" - the biggest change in Usher is his quickness to voice anger. Previously, even at his hottest and most bothered, Usher's warm, sinewy vocals rested on a sense of maintained cool. Not on the mean and bleating bust-up dustup "Papers." Marvin Gaye and Dylan, two famed pop essayers of divorce, got nothing on Usher's bitter take regarding the big break.

After he disses marital bliss, it's the usual Usher at play - slick, crunk-y stuff like the hook-laden "Lil Freak," in which he and Nicki Minaj, hip-hop's new mistress MC du jour, trade, um, licks.

Welcome back, player.

- A.D. Amorosi

nolead begins She & Him
nolead ends nolead begins Volume Two
nolead ends nolead begins (Merge ***)

nolead ends The title to the sophomore set from hipster crush-object Zooey Deschanel and indie guitarist M. Ward is apt. Volume Two is made of the same kind of neatly produced nostalgic pop-rock stuff that filled up 2008's Volume One. Unlike that cheery charmer, Volume Two doesn't have the element of surprise working for it, but its 11 wistful and winsome originals, plus two covers - of NRBQ's "Riding In My Car" and Skeeter Davis' "I'm Gonna Make It Better" - are every bit as consistently appealing. If you're a sexist pig or you think Deschanel is just too cutesy for her own good, you might still be under the impression that She & Him consists of an adorable actress getting by thanks to the musical mastermind behind her. As with Volume One, however, Deschanel wrote all the originals, and though she's unabashedly retro and never presents herself as a brooding artiste, she's got a real knack for a well-turned tune that matches a melancholy sentiment with a sunny melody.

- Dan DeLuca

nolead begins Allison Moorer
nolead ends nolead begins Crows
nolead ends nolead begins (Ryko ***)

nolead ends Unlike her older sister, Shelby Lynne, Allison Moorer tends to take a soft approach. Not soft as in weak or mush-headed, but soft as in quietly alluring. That goes back to her striking debut on the soundtrack of The Horse Whisperer.

Crows plays up that side of Moorer. Save for the ringing pop of "The Broken Girl," it's all moody atmospherics, built on acoustic guitar, piano and occasional strings. It's a style that suits not only Moorer's smoky voice, but also the consistently downbeat nature of her material (she wrote all but one of the 13 songs). The approach would grow wearying if Moorer didn't spin so many resonant variations on longing and loss, and, amid all the melancholy, exude - in her low-key way - a steady resolve and intelligence.

- Nick Cristiano

nolead begins King Britt
nolead ends nolead begins The Intricate Beauty
nolead ends nolead begins (Nervous Records ***)

nolead ends It's no surprise that The Intricate Beauty, although all originals, plays like an expert DJ set: It's the work of Philly's King Britt, who has been spinning, mixing and producing under various guises since the early '90s. He's DJ'ed with Digable Planets, masterminded the Sylk 130 collective, produced and/or remixed countless singles, and done albums paying tribute to '70s funk, '80s new wave and old-school rap, and New Orleans street singer Gertrude Morgan.

Now, King Britt claims he's going to focus on more experimental work and that The Intricate Beauty will be his last "conventional dance album." If so, he's left us with a good one. Unified by the metronomic thump of house music, the album takes a seamless, hour-long journey. The first four tracks feature female vocalists, including the sultry Astrid Suryanto on the seductive "Now." From there, the album moves through African chants, disco-funk anthems and chilled-out electronics. Intricate Beauty peaks early, but it lives up to its title.

- Steve Klinge

Preservation

(Preservation Hall Recordings ***1/2)

nolead ends The subtitle on the cover spells it out: "An album to benefit Preservation Hall and the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program." To that end, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has made this album about as irresistible as possible, gathering 19 different acts performing standards and traditional numbers with the New Orleans musical institution.

It's a multigenerational crew, from graybeards (Pete Seeger, Merle Haggard, Dr. John) to boomers (Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller) and younger artists (Ani DiFranco, Brandi Carlile, Amy LaVere). Except for Terence Blanchard, none of these artists are from the jazz world, but none sound out of place here, either. Fittingly, there's also an appearance by the greatest of all Big Easy musical figures, Louis Armstrong, whose vocals on "Rockin' Chair" get new backing from Preservation Hall.

- Nick Cristiano

nolead begins Marley's Ghost
nolead ends nolead begins Ghost Town
nolead ends nolead begins (Sage Arts ***)

nolead ends A veteran outfit from the West Coast, Marley's Ghost traveled to Nashville to make its ninth album. That's because the quintet got the chance to work with Cowboy Jack Clement, the producer and songwriter whose storied career goes back to the early days of Sun Records and who has worked with the likes of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and U2.

The band's inviting blend of country and folk - nearly all acoustic, colored by piano, organ, fiddle and steel - is understated but heartfelt. The four distinct lead voices, augmented by beautiful harmonies, mirror the emotional shades in the collection of topflight material, from band originals to numbers by Emmylou Harris, Warren Zevon and Clement himself. It all makes this Ghost Town hum with life.

- N.C.

The Giuseppi Logan Quintet

(Tompkins Square Records **1/2)

nolead ends It's a blast from an unreconstructed past.

Pianist and Philly native Giuseppi Logan burst onto the free jazz scene in the 1960s, making two heralded recordings and gigging with the likes of reedman Byard Lancaster and pianist Don Pullen only to wig out, become homeless and fall silent for nearly half a century.

Rediscovered playing solo in New York's Tompkins Square, Logan, now in his mid 70s, returns with a new CD and a rare Philly appearance next week, sponsored by the Ars Nova Workshop.

Logan played a lot back in the day with pianist Dave Burrell and drummer Warren Smith, and both appear on this throwback set with bassist Francois Grillot and trumpeter Matt Lavelle, who doubles on bass clarinet.

The Logan originals and standards here sound a lot like Ornette Coleman decades ago. The playing can sound primitive but startling, too. "Freddie Freeloader" has this aggressive indolence, while a Logan original, "Love Me Tonight," gets a gummy vocal from the leader that is quite Bowery-esque.

Occasionally the quintet will delve into beauty, as on "Over the Rainbow" and Burrell's masterful slide through "Blue Moon." Mostly, it's a free-jazz romp that becomes compelling at times.

- Karl Stark

nolead begins Rufus Reid
nolead ends nolead begins Out Front
nolead ends nolead begins (Motema Records)***)

nolead ends Somewhere around the third tune, this CD overwhelms objections. Elite bassist Rufus Reid specializes in making people around him sound better, and his trio creates that top-shelf feel, full of style and grace.

Drummer Duduka Da Fonseca is known for his native Brazilian rhythms, but here he's deep in a mainstream jazz pocket, even on the driving "Dry Land," written by the Berkeley, Calif.-based Brazilian composer Marcos Silva.

Jazz pianist and composer Steve Allee, who has written for television shows from Friends to NYPD Blue, plays lots of velvet with some stentorian McCoy Tyner-esque chords thrown in.

A few standards are here, such as Tadd Dameron's "If You Could See Me Now," which Reid first renders by himself before the trio makes it a liquid ballad.

But the set is more than a drive through the songbook. Reid's "Caress the Thought" projects orchestral ambitions. And generally these guys play bigger than a trio.

- K.S.

Rafal Blechacz, piano; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Jerzy Semkow conducting

(Deutsche Grammophon ***1/2)

nolead ends nolead begins 21 Mazurkas
nolead ends nolead begins Vassily Primakov, piano
nolead ends nolead begins (Bridge ****)

nolead ends nolead begins Nocturnes 1-20
nolead ends nolead begins Nelson Freire, piano
nolead ends nolead begins (Decca ***1/2)

nolead ends nolead begins Ballades and Nocturnes
nolead ends nolead begins Etsuko Hirose, piano
nolead ends nolead begins (Mirare ****)

nolead ends It's happy 200th birthday for Chopin - with an avalanche of recordings by pianists young and old. Any Freire recording these days is eagerly anticipated, and perhaps because of that, this one feels slightly disappointing. The earlier Nocturnes, for example, are so contemplative and refined that they border on being inconsequential. Later ones are a different story: This is where you feel the long-ill Chopin walking into the hands of death with trepidation, mystery and wonder - interpretive possibilities that, alone, are almost worth the price of the disc.

The Russian Primakov and Polish Blechacz distinguish themselves in an extremely crowded discography, the former with his crisp, smart, unsentimental and always danceable renditions of the mazurkas, the latter with concerto solo movements that feel as direct as speech even in some of the most lyrical music written for the piano. Conductor Semkow is unusually attentive in the rudimentary orchestral parts.

The disc that will be hardest to top this year is by the least-known pianist, Japan-born, Paris-educated Etsuko Hirose. Her relationship with Chopin feels so deep and right as to be downright telepathic. Besides having superb pianistic equipment in all the usual ways, she has a unique way of building a phrase: It feels like a gathering storm front that suddenly bursts open with emotion - all accomplished without distorting the music's stylish silhouette.

- David Patrick Stearns