Jazz Soundtrack Hits Many Right Notes

Various Artists “Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America’s Music”

(Sony/Columbia) ***

Ken Burns’ epic 10-part documentary “Jazz,” coming in January on PBS, takes almost 19 hours to tell “The Story of America’s Music” over the course of a century.

This five-CD soundtrack, due in stores Tuesday, has only one-third that time in which to present an overview. Yes, there are the inevitable - and grievous - oversights. And, as in the film, scant attention is paid any music written and recorded after 1965. Even so, “Ken Burns Jazz” hits a lot of right notes, even as it sticks to mid-range.

This soundtrack may be of most value to those whose conception of jazz begins and ends with Miles and Coltrane. Its first three discs are primarily devoted to the architects; though understandably heavy on Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, it also collects seminal and rarely compiled tracks by the likes of Clarence Williams’ Blue Five and Frank Trumbauer’s Orchestra with the incredible Bix Beiderbecke, and affords swing bands like Benny Moten’s and Benny Goodman’s the respect they deserve.

Things become more troublesome when bebop rears its hydra head. While the usual suspects (Bird, Monk, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Stan Getz) are accounted for, any jazz history that overlooks the contributions of independent labels Blue Note, Riverside and Prestige - no Art Blakey, no prime Dexter Gordon, no Bill Evans Trio or Sun Ra - can’t be considered anything approaching definitive.

- Terry Lawson

Allison Moorer “The Hardest Part” (MCA) ***

Songs about love don’t get much darker - or better - than these finely crafted tunes by Allison Moorer and husband Doyle Primm. But the sad story lurking behind them isn’t revealed until the disc’s final track, a mournful waltz about the murder-suicide that took the lives of Moorer’s parents.

The singer’s voice is pure country, and, at its core, so is this project. The sassy fiddles that kick off the opening track make that clear. But Moorer, sister of music nonconformist Shelby Lynne, isn’t afraid of the occasional foray into rock (”Bring Me All Your Lovin’ “) or R&B (”It’s Time I Tried”).

These tunes, light-years smarter than most of what’s coming out of mainstream Nashville nowadays, are exceptional.

- Greg Crawford

Green Day “Warning” (Reprise) ***

Let the guys in Blink-182 suck their thumbs. Green Day, it seems, is ready to grow up.

Punk-pop rhythms still fuel much of the stuff on this fourth major-label album, but it’s decorated with textures from across the rock canon - acoustic guitars, lush synth strings and noodling organs.

Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, the snot-nosed punk guitarist of ‘94, is the family man of ‘00. Adolescent smirks have given way to real-life soul-searching: “I’m thinking about a brand new hope/The one I’ve never known,” he sings on the album’s gorgeous closing track, “Macy’s Day Parade.”

“Warning” is a smart, glowing statement from a band few would have thought capable half a decade ago.

- Brian McCollum