SOUND CHECK.

Kurt Rosenwinkel/``The Next Step'' (Verve)

Listen to guitarist Rosenwinkel's second Verve album and, sure, you'll hear echoes of Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell and maybe even Jim Hall. But Rosenwinkel is very much his own man, writing all eight of the album's selections and playing with a fresh, distinctive sound that makes him one of the most exciting guitar players to arrive on the jazz scene in years.

Rosenwinkel (opening a six-night stand Tuesday at the Jazz Bakery) has been honing his writing and playing skills with the same band for the past six years, and the investment pays off in the empathy he has with saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Ben Street and drummer Jeff Ballad.

The music can be dense and challenging without being forbidding. It's jazz for the head and the heart, steeped in tradition, but not weighed down by it. Three and one half stars

- Glenn Whipp

Ilegales/``On Time''/(BMG Latin)

They wear a black hat in name only because the Ilegales are, no doubt, good. That point comes across loud and clear on the new disc from these Latin hitmakers (remember the song ``La Morena?'') and their fresh-faced recruits whose good looks grace the album cover.

This time Dominican rhythms are awash in electric rock guitar, hip-hop beats, funny vocal effects and pulsing Clubland beats. Their merengue fusion of house and pop lends itself nicely to ``Una Copa de Licor,'' ``Yo Te Amare'' and ``Que Te Vaya Bien,'' which finds the band mixing in a dose of soaring Middle Eastern vocals and rhythms. It's a real bang-up. Four stars

- Sandra Barrera

Johnny Bond/``Country and Western: Standard Transcriptions''

(Bloodshot/Soundies) The latest in insurgent country label Bloodshot's ``resurgent'' series is a generous, 31-cut serving of '40s radio recordings by Bond and his quintessential cowboy backup band, the Red River Valley Boys.

Aside from the title sounds, strong strains of everything from polka to swing inform the smoothly sung and orchestrated numbers, which include renditions of favorite chestnuts like ``Tumbling Tumbleweeds'' and, naturally, ``Red River Valley,'' along with a good many long-forgotten lovelies.

Overall, the sound is more Gene Autry generic than Bob Wills wild, but the disc is never less than a harmonious example of fine sustained songcraft. Three stars

- Bob Strauss

Soundtrack/``You Can Count on Me''

(E-Squared/Artemis) Devotees of Americana icon Steve Earle will be disappointed by the selection of previously issued material here, but as an introduction to the rootsy roster of E-Squared (Earle's label), the disc works just fine.

While Earle is the best-known act and the five cuts from ``The Mountain,'' his 1999 bluegrass effort with the Del McCoury Band, are clear standouts, diverse barroom rockers and ballads from Bap Kennedy, Cheri Knight, the V-Roys and Marah leave the listener with a rare feeling of discovery. Three stars

- Fred Shuster

BeauSoleil/``Looking Back Tomorrow: BeauSoleil Live!'' (Rhino)

America's premier Cajun band already has been canonized with two ``best-of'' collections, but this live set actually sums up BeauSoleil's spirited sound better than any previous anthology.

Recorded in Virginia, ``Looking Back Tomorrow'' finds fiddler Michael Doucet and company still in fine form after more than a quarter century together, serving up a musical gumbo that encompasses Southern country, folk music and traditional French songs.

Along with four new Doucet originals, there are some raging remakes, wonderful waltzes and bouncy two-steps. The group will appear with the Band's Levon Helm at the House of Blues in West Hollywood on Saturday. Three stars

- G.W.

Clay Blaker/``Welcome to the Wasteland'' (Neobilly)

A successful Nashville songwriter with Hawaiian roots (the Texan spent some teen years in Maui), Blaker as a recording artist represents an odd byproduct of the dreary, contemporary country condition.

On the one hand, his music sounds much more authentic than the bland, pop-in-boots formula that dominates the charts. But there are some country traditions we don't need to preserve all that badly.

Blaker manages to squeeze an amazing number of cultural stereotypes per stanza into the cross-border love song ``Brown Eyes of Mexico,'' and there are enough architectural metaphors in ``This House Has No Doors'' to add an unnecessary new wing onto George Jones' empty mansion.

The best songs here, like the title track, boast guitar-driven, wild surf urgency. It may not be pure country, but then, some of the world's best cowboys are Hawaiian. Two and one half stars

- B.S.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (Kurt Rosenwinkel)

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