SOUND CHECK.

ALANIS MORISSETTE: ``So-Called Chaos'' (Maverick) - Two stars

Morissette's penchant for turning most of the songs on her fourth studio album (out Tuesday) into anthems undercuts the music, which ranges - with one exception - from rockers to, ah, medium rockers. And the confessional diva's strained lyrics don't help. A tune like ``Doth I Protest Too Much'' may reference Shakespeare but sounds more like a laundry list. In ``Everything,'' Morissette sings ``I am the funniest woman ... I am the dullest'' and then seemingly everything else. If the singer-songwriter occasionally stopped finding herself so interesting and looked out at the world (or had an editor), some of this introspection might be compelling. As for the sounds, ``So-Called Chaos'' might remind you of ``Jagged Little Pill,'' but there is little to grab you. There are faux Indian touches here and there (as if Morissette had just seen a Bollywood film), but only ``This Grudge'' - the closet thing to a ballad - sticks.

- Rob Lowman

KING WILKIE: ``Broke'' (Rebel) - Four stars

These young bluegrass musicians named their band after Bill Monroe's favorite horse. That's both reverent and a little cheeky, and it describes their honest but slightly daring approach to the traditional high lonesome sound. The sextet fires off fiddle-and-banjo assaults as frenzied as the best of them, but its distinction lies in Reid Burgess and John McDonald's vocals, which provide endless marvels of adenoidal harmony, counterpoint and rounding rhythm.

- Bob Strauss

JOE LOVANO: ``I'm All For You'' (Blue Note) - Four stars

Tenor saxophonist Lovano has long demonstrated a technical mastery of his instrument, but it's the way he plays with such feeling that marks his albums as something special. That depth of conviction is particularly evident on his first all-ballads set, which finds Lovano playing with fellow masters George Mraz on bass, drummer Paul Motian and Hank Jones, still great at age 85, on piano. The album opens with a Lovano original, the title track, which takes the chord changes of ``Body and Soul'' and makes them into something magically new. The remaining eight songs maintain the warm, intimate tone, creating a lush masterpiece that ranks with Lovano's best work.

- Glenn Whipp

JOHN SCOFIELD TRIO: ``EnRoute'' (Verve) - Four stars

Scofield's busy, humorless approach and excessive use of electronics always lacked appeal to these ears. But in this surprisingly organic in-concert set, a different Scofield emerges. Utilizing a warm, unblemished tone and sticking mostly to midtempo originals, a loose, relaxed Scofield solos with genuine lyricism. The high-wire act opens with a knockout reading of the bop standard ``Wee'' and encompasses a bluesy ``Bag,'' the funkily good-natured ``Over Big Top'' and an exquisite ``Alfie.'' Telepathy between Scofield, the always dependable Steve Swallow on bass and a miraculous Bill Stewart on drums (seen here at the beginning of the year with keyboardist Larry Goldings) is revealed throughout. Ennui? Not ``EnRoute.''

- Fred Shuster

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (ALANIS MORISSETTE)

(2 -- 5) no caption (CD covers)