During one inspired stretch of her casually luxurious concert at the Rose Theater on Friday night, Cassandra Wilson sang material from her oldest and most recent Blue Note albums, released 17 years apart. A few of these were original songs, full of spirit talk and churning, viscous grooves. One was an adaptation of Charley Patton's ''Pony Blues,''...
KID CUDI ''Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager'' (Dream On/G.O.O.D. Music/Universal/Motown) Kid Cudi starts out ''Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager,'' his second official album, calling himself ''a winner.'' He's a hip-hop star traveling the ''world I'm ruling,'' with fame, women and drugs for the asking. It's a steep downward...

Cassandra Wilson ventured out of her normal comfort zone on Saturday evening to give a recital of popular standards at Café Sabarsky as the final event in the Neue Galerie's cabaret sidebar to Berlin in Lights, a festival presented by Carnegie Hall. Talk about crossover! Ms. Wilson is a singer who plays by her own rules. With her dark, loamy jazz...