Jamie Foxx, Keyshia Cole have new CDs

Plies, “Da REAList”
“Da REAList” is the third full-length this Florida rapper has released since the summer of 2007, but like his fellow workaholic Lil Wayne (with whom he appeared on the hit remix of Shawty Lo’s “Dey Know”), Plies thrives on haste. His reports here from the streets, the boudoir and the hospital room sizzle with a stripped-down immediacy that makes good on the album’s title; few MCs seem as committed to a warts-and-all presentation as Plies. And on “Want It, Need It,” a fluffy duet with Ashanti, he even cops to the desire most of his peers view as a sign of weakness.

Musiq Soulchild, “Onmyradio”
Musiq Soulchild raised eyebrows and eardrums in August, when “radio” came out as the first single from his fifth album. Tapping into the clubby snap style of Atlanta, his adopted home base, the former Philly neo-soulster seemed to telegraph a drastic change of course. But while “radio” is indeed a surprise and wisely positioned near the end of the album, the other 11 tracks from “Onmyradio” represent a more measured kind of departure in which Soulchild sprinkles a bit of Southern flavor into his old-school aesthetic. Cleverly layered vocal arrangements elevate such tracks as “until” and “special,” while “moneyright” boasts a skip-along, hand-clapping beat that counters the languid lushness of “someone” and “sobeautiful.” Elsewhere, Mary J. Blige plays the female foil to Soulchild’s sanctimonious protagonist on “ifuleave,” and Damian Marley lends patois to the reggae-flavored “iwannabe.”

Jim Hall & Bill Frisell, “Hemispheres”
This double-CD project unites guitarists Jim Hall and Bill Frisell on disc one, then brings in bassist Scott Colley and drummer Joey Baron on disc two. The tunes on the first CD, mainly Hall and Frisell originals, with covers of Milt Jackson’s “Bags Groove” and Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War,” are pensive pieces that thrive on the deft interplay between the pair, whose sound blends acoustic and electric. Both discs offer songs that are very much free-form; “Migration” and “Hear and Now” have a thoroughly improvised feel and a very keen edge. Disc two features more cover tunes than originals, including a very chilled take on Billy Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge” and a delightfully realized rendition of Sonny Rollins’ “Sonnymoon for Two.”

Fanny Lu, “Dos”
The sophomore album by Colombian pop singer Fanny Lu is a little like cotton candy: sweet and fluffy on the outside, but ultimately satisfying and addictive. The impression comes in part from her airy, raspy voice, aptly applied to tropical/pop music on her first album but now aiming for broader pop. The first single, “Tu No Eres Para Mi,” a catchy ditty reminiscent of early Shakira, is unadulterated fun. “Manana Es Otro Dia,” with colloquial yet evocative lyrics, is beautiful, and “Amor Sincero,” which recalls Fanny Lu’s hit “No Te Pido Flores,” builds on a tried-and-true formula that still makes you dance and tap to the beat. There are throwaways, like the convoluted “Te Va a Costar.” But overall, this is an album that seeks to entertain and does so without pretension.

Bee Gees, “Odessa: Deluxe Edition”
Before “Saturday Night Fever” turned them into disco superstars, the Bee Gees made a string of gently psychedelic pop records that Rhino began excavating in 2006 with the handsome “The Studio Albums: 1967-1968” boxed set. Here the label moves onto 1969’s “Odessa” with a three-disc 40th-anniversary edition worthy of the music’s lush widescreen sound. Discs one and two present the album in separate stereo and mono mixes for the vintage-vinyl contingent, while the third unearths a trove of previously unreleased rarities, including alternate mixes of “First of May” and “You’ll Never See My Face Again,” as well as demo versions of the title track and “Melody Fair.” Also featured: two nifty album outtakes, “Nobody’s Someone” and “Pity,” and an amusing 30-second promo spot in which a stentorian radio announcer calls “Odessa” “one of the most fantastic record packages ever released.”

Eliane Elias, “Bossa Nova Stories”
Brazil’s bossa nova turned 50 in 2008, and Sao Paulo native Eliane Elias has produced an appropriate tribute to the genre. The pianist/vocalist works with a core group of players who are noteworthy in their own right — Paulo Braga, Oscar Castro-Neves, Ricardo Vogt and Marc Johnson — to cover classic numbers within the genre and lay a rich bossa vibe on tunes by George Gershwin, Johnny Mercer and Stevie Wonder. On an elegant cover of “The Girl From Ipanema,” Elias reprises the song in dazzling fashion in English and Portuguese. She provides an equally appealing treatment on “Desafinado,” another Tom Jobim classic. As wonderful a singer as Elias is, take note of her keyboard chops on “A Ra” and “Chega de Saudade.” Her touch on the black-and-whites is as polished and tasty as her vocals.

Bang Camaro, “Bang Camaro II”
On the surface, there’s no reason Bang Camaro should be anything but a novelty act, riling up dive bars with formulaic hair metal and an extra tank of testosterone in the form of 15 to 20 lead singers. But in a post-ironic, “Guitar Hero” culture, guilty pleasures lose some of the guilt, and Bang Camaro’s second full album supports its cheeky mission — derivative anthem rock consisting entirely of hooky choruses and guitar solos — with real musicianship and serious fun. In addition to sharpening the guitarists’ impressive shredding, the genre’s signature shiny clean production serves here to highlight that everyone in the Bang Camaro “choir” can in fact sing. Irony isn’t totally dead; the band knowingly doles out such rock cliches as terrible lyrics (“Her eyes tell lies”).

Rokia Traore, “Tchamantche”
Malian vocalist/songwriter Rokia Traore’s latest album project is a collection of tunes (most of which she composed or co-authored) that are notable for both their gorgeous musicality and graceful simplicity. The sound she conjures is grounded in the vibe of old-school Gretsch and Silvertone guitars, abetted by fundamental percussion, n’goni (a West African lute) and classical harp. Traore sings in French and her native tongue, and she also delivers a beguiling cover in English of Gershwin’s “The Man I Love,” a song Billie Holiday owned back in the day. Track after track, Traore’s lyrics (as translated in the liner notes) are sheer poetry. “Zen,” sung in French, is all about doing nothing and doing it with an ineffable artistry, while “Tounka” is a lovely song about the distressing issue of Africans emigrating illegally to Europe.

Joshua Redmond, “Compass”
The master saxman uses the occasion of his latest Nonesuch release to embark on a “further exploration” of the trio format that he began with 2007’s “Back East” (itself an homage to Sonny Rollins’ “Way Out West”). And indeed the virtuoso is purposefully extending himself in all manner of directions on this sprawling, 13-track behemoth: “Little Ditty” is a sweet little fog-on-the-moors lullaby, “Hutchhiker’s Guide” is a smooth and tasty groove, “Insomnomaniac” is as nutty and frenetic as its title suggests (including a wicked, funky mid-song detour) and, most tellingly, Redman uses “Just Like You” to interpolate bits of none other than John Coltrane’s after-hours mournfulness, before the track shatters into a supreme-sounding mess. Redman has surrounded himself with a familiar cast of friends and experts — bassists Larry Grenadier and Reuben Rogers and drummers Brian Blade and Gregory Hutchinson — and between the lot of them, there’s not a less-than-assured moment.

Jean Grae, “Jeanius”
Jean Grae is possibly the strongest, most talented female MC that hip-hop has seen in the past 20 years. But her previous albums have lacked the benefit of an A-list producer who can take the South Africa-born beauty’s fiery, perfectly worded battle raps to the stratosphere of crossover success. And in former Little Brother beat-miner 9th Wonder, Jean has found her own private DJ Premier, who helps her to create her finest album to date. Though gestating for a time as a mixtape, “Jeanius” was good enough to be released as Jean’s official third album and debut on the Warner Bros.-affiliated Blacksmith label. As 9th Wonder constructs lush, soul-drenched soundscapes straight off the blocks of Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia, Jean delivers the self-revelatory “Don’t Rush Me” and the touching “My Story,” which chronicles her traumatic experience at an abortion clinic. Battle-cat moments such as “2-32s” and the Fatin-produced posse cut “Smashmouth” with K. Hill, Edgar Allen Floe and Joe Scudda showcase lethal verbal swordplay.

Big Shanty, “Sold Out”
Big Shanty, a slide guitar cat out of south Alabama, is touted as a blues artist, but on this, his third album, his sound is more beholden to swamp rock. The set opens with “Big Shanty,” a hard-driving bit of hubris. “Love Train” has the impact its title implies, the muscular pulse of the rhythm section driving the track as guitars tangle on the top end. “Stop Pushing Me” has a tasty funk feel, highlighted by nasty, hornet-buzz guitars. “Tybee Town,” a sparse, strings-only number, offers a mellow change of pace near the end of the disc. The one caveat is that several songs, especially “Kiss the Eight Ball” and “They Say It’s Raining,” are essentially crunchy instrumentals paired with dreadful lyrics.

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