SOUND CHECK.

SPOTLIGHT ON...

Louis Armstrong/``The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings'' (Columbia/Legacy)

Called the Holy Grail of jazz, these oft-reissued Armstrong sides from the '20s encompass the foundation of all that came after. Considered avant-garde at the time, the music still sounds lively and exciting, suggesting a place and time long passed. You can almost taste the booze and smell the reefer and cheap perfume of the New Orleans bordellos that gave birth to Armstrong's early sound, a beautiful, bawdy mix of Tin Pan Alley and blues.

This excellently packaged four-disc box gathers Armstrong's seminal 60- plus combo tracks coupled with 30 sides of historic attendant material recorded mostly with the same great musicians during the same period often under different group monikers. Be warned there is some hiss on the discs, but much of the music that was lost in earlier CD transfers is thankfully restored.

Standout tracks like ``Potato Head Blues,'' ``S.O.L. Blues'' and ``West End Blues'' helped transform jazz into a soloist's art and set new standards for trumpeters. In addition, Armstrong's singing introduced individuality to pop vocals and, just for laughs, Satch also invented scat singing when he dropped the music one day at a session.

Simply great stuff. Four stars.

- Fred Shuster

Master Musicians of Jajouka with Talvin Singh/``Master Musicians of Jajouka'' (Point/Universal)

The trance-inducing Master Musicians of Jajouka were introduced to the pop world 32 years ago when Rolling Stone Brian Jones traveled to the Rif Mountains near Tangier, Morocco, and made a doctored field recording of the tribal musicians, who ply their ancient music on hand-made drums, pipes and flutes. Over the years, many well-known musicians have followed in Jones' footsteps while the Jajouka clan have made forays to Europe and New York.

British-born tabla player, producer and underground DJ Singh, whose last album, ``OK,'' won the UK's prestigious Mercury Music Prize, puts the Master Musicians under a new light - an ambient, techno-tinged treatment that seamlessly fuses ancient and modern sounds. Somehow, the beat and spirit of electronic dance music fits perfectly with Jajouka, who appear Sept. 9-10 at the Knitting Factory Hollywood. In stores Tuesday. Four stars.

- F.S.

Marshall Crenshaw/``Marshall Crenshaw,'' ``The Best of Marshall Crenshaw'' (Warner Archives/Rhino)

How do you go from making one of the best pop debuts in history to the shadows of obscurity? These two reissues tell the disheartening story. Crenshaw's self-titled debut album (remastered here with nine outtakes and live tracks) is crammed full of bouncy, hook-laden, smart pop songs that revolve around romantic longing. The Buddy Holly-esque single ``Someday Someway'' became Crenshaw's first and only hit, and in the intervening 18 years, Crenshaw has gone from sounding like Holly to playing him in a movie (``La Bamba''). The ``best of'' collection shows that Crenshaw's commercial misfortune isn't through lack of craft or chops. The generous, 22-song collection charts Crenshaw's growth as a songwriter, which went largely unheard because of his record company's apathy. It's radio's loss since Crenshaw still has a magical way with a melody. Four stars.

- Glenn Whipp

Sam Bush/``Ice Caps: Peaks of Telluride'' (Sugar Hill)

Mandolin virtuoso Bush has been a mainstay of the eclectic Telluride Bluegrass Festival for 26 of its 27 years, and this album showcases some of his outstanding 1990s performances there. It almost goes without saying that the pickin' is uniformly superb; besides his signature instrument, Bush jumps on electric guitar and fiddle, while such luminaries as dobroist Jerry Douglas and banjo man Bela Fleck lend their hands.

Material by diverse artists ranging from Bill Monroe, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and John Hiatt to Kool & the Gang is properly mountainized while the sonic attack covers everything from hard-core traditionalism to hard rock, with Cajun, reggae and pop notes struck along the way. It's all musically impressive, but marred slightly by a kind of irrepressible sunniness; Bush and company sound so intent on pleasing their live audience, the mood and meaning of the songs tend to get lost. Three stars.

- Bob Strauss

Various/``Now That's What I Call Music! 4'' (Virgin/Capitol/Sony)

This collection of 18 recent chart hits by the likes of Savage Garden, Britney Spears, Joe and Blink-182 has been selling like hotcakes, even landing at the top of the albums chart for a couple of weeks. Who buys these things? Apparently, those that don't already own the individual albums containing the hits by the above-mentioned artists. After four successful editions in the series since 1998, ``Now'' is a brand name that seems to be filling a need for young music buyers. One and one half stars.

- F.S.

Nina Gordon/``Tonight and the Rest of My Life'' (Warner Bros.)

Now that Gordon is on her own after leaving Veruca Salt (``Seether,'' ``Volcano Girls''), she's free to unleash her true pop potential, which she does with verve on her debut solo effort. A dynamic singer in the Aimee Mann vein with a veritable salt mine of hooks and melodies, Gordon with producers Bob Rock and Jon Brion deliver the goods on such standouts as opening cut ``Now I Can Die,'' ``New Year's Eve'' and ``2003.'' Three stars.

- F.S.

Various/``Ain't I'm a Dog!'' and ``Whistle Bait'' (Columbia/Legacy)

These two new rockabilly collections each offer 25 prime cuts of primal twang and hillbilly hoots recorded for the Columbia, Epic, Okeh and Date labels between 1955-59. Granted, some of these groups can be acquired taste (we still don't get the Collins Kids, nor do we want to), but the best of these compilations feature loud and messy slabs of rebellion that must have sounded like a breath of fresh air during the staid Eisenhower era. Singers both famous (Johnny Horton, Carl Perkins and Marty Robbins) and obscure (Charlie Adams, Onie Wheeler, Jimmy Murphy) make the cut, providing a balanced and enjoyable look at a sound that still feels fresh after 40 years. Three stars.

- G.W.

Matthew Ryan/``East Autumn Grin'' (A&M)

On his 1996 debut, Pennsylvania-born, Nashville-based bard Ryan was compared to everybody from Leonard Cohen to Bruce Springsteen. His powerful new effort is one of those rare albums you delight in hearing repeatedly, since it's filled with subtle touches and strong, original melodies and imagery. Opening with the defiant hard pop of ``3rd of October,'' the disc takes the listener on a journey that includes such memorable stops as the downcast ``Ballad of a Limping Man'' and the delicate ``Worry.'' Recommended. Three and one half stars

- F.S.

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(1) no caption (Louis Armstrong)

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