One song at the Grammys changed Latin pop star Ricky Martin's life -- but newly minted crossover status doesn't guarantee a good record.

Downtown Jewish jazz artists are coming out of the closet, blowing contemporary twists on klezmer riffs for enthusiastic audiences. Is anyone uptown listening?

The willfully unpredictable jazz singer Cassandra Wilson -- equally comfortable with Cyndi Lauper and Bill Evans -- conjures the spirit of Miles Davis on her new album.

Country renegade Steve Earle defied his record label -- and gave up his contract -- to make a traditional bluegrass album with the Del McCoury Band.

Theater and rock have made many an ill-fated match, but the cast album of the Off Broadway glam-rock musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" proves a thrilling exception.

Righteous rocker Ani DiFranco, famous for doing it all herself, puts together her very first group -- and creates her best album yet.

Philip Glass still can't get the respect of the music Establishment -- not because he's too minimalist and post-modern; now it's because he's too lush and romantic.

Hole's new album finds Courtney Love reinventing herself as a rocker (that again); on "Is This Desire?," P. J. Harvey tries just about everything on for size.