GEOFF EDGERS

Geoff Muldaur’s Futuristic Ensemble, "Private Astronomy: A Vision of the Music of Bix Beiderbecke" (Edge Music)
Muldaur, an acoustic blues player, puts down his guitar to orchestrate a tribute to an obscure, 1920s jazz musician. As bizarre as the concept might seem, Muldaur, Loudon Wainwright III, and a troupe of helpers manage to capture the spirit and sound of the late, cult-famous trumpeter.

OutKast, "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" (Arista)
The Atlanta duo continues to drop rhymes like Rosa Parks throws down torts. Their version of "The White Album" shows that even when Andre 3000 and Big Boi are apart, they’re together.

Walt Kelly/Norman Monath, "Songs of the Pogo" (Reaction)
In this age of sonic obsession - SACD or DVD-A? - it’s time to reclaim this long lost but reissued album of total weirdness that was remastered from, yes, a record. Scratches and all, Walt Kelly’s album, put out in 1956 and inspired by his comic strip, is Spike Jones meets Esquivel with an alphabet tornado of wordplay.

Warren Zevon, "The Wind" (Artemis)
Zevon was dying, so he gathered his best musical friends and produced an album that, as corny as it sounds, is more about life than it is about death.

Caitlin Cary, "I’m Staying Out" (Yep Roc)
Former Whiskeytown bandmate Ryan Adams gets all the props, but the sultry pop on Cary’s second solo album shows she wasn’t playing second fiddle.

The White Stripes, "Elephant" (V2)
Yes, you can sign to a major label, canoodle with a creepy actress, and still sound like a buzzsaw at a Zombies convention.

Miles Davis, "The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions" (Sony/Legacy)
The latest in Sony’s rich Davis reissue program turns the 1970 record into a sprawling, outtake-laden box set. It might have Davis’s name on the cover but this music is more notable for the wealth of other musicians who created the groovy, guitar-driven rock.

The Libertines, "Up the Bracket" (Rough Trade)
Imagine the Strokes with no hype, a rich song catalog, and English roots. Now flip on the Libertines debut and explain why anyone was still pining for a Clash reunion.

Gillian Welch, "Soul Journey" (Acony)
The O Brotherophiles may have moved on, but Welch continues to craft her brand of haunted, modern-day mountain music.

Al Green, "I Can’t Stop" (Blue Note)
It’s not perfect, but Green’s reunion with Willie Mitchell shows that the greatest living soul singer who doesn’t wear a man girdle – sorry, Godfather James – hasn’t lost a whisper of his falsetto.