Director's Cuts: The 2003 CD Gift Guide

The independent Mexican label Opción Sónica has amassed an impressive collection of Mexican pop singers outside the boundaries of Mexico's TV monopoly Televisa, which has dominated Mexican pop culture for years. Out of 3 previously-released volumes, they've been boiled down to a new release available in this country: The Best of Mexican Divas.

Bandleader Peter Graves gathered a who's-who of electric bass players for this tribute to the late bass innovator Jaco Pastorius, who changed the instrument forever when he played with Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny and others. Word of Mouth Revisited features players including Jimmy Haslip, Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller and Christian McBride.

If you've ever wondered about that driving groove that's heard at the top of each episode of The Sopranos, this is the group: A3. Known as Alabama 3 in their native London, and A3 here in the States, their CD, Power in the Blood, includes a bonus disc featuring an acoustic version of "Woke Up This Morning," the theme from The Sopranos.

This fresh pop from Albuquerque and transplanted to Portland, Ore., features an exuberant garage-y sound, thanks to the lo-fi tinge of the recording made in lead singer James Mercer's basement.

In a small corner of eastern Uganda, the 600-member Abadayuda community has been combining Hebrew prayer with traditional music since their ancestors converted to Judaism in 1919.

Vanity recording outfits have for years been advertising to attract poets and closet musicians, offering (for a price) to set words to music. Many of these so-called "song-poems" have become collector's items. Bar/None Records has been compiling them lately, with a CD released earlier this year called Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood and Brush. Now there's a holiday release: The American Song-Poem Christmas: Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four? with astonishing titles including "Santa Came On a Nuclear Missile," "How Do They Spend Christmas In Heaven" and "Santa Fix My Toys For Christmas."

California singer-songwriter Kerry Getz says that when she was a kid, her older brother got an acoustic guitar from Santa, and while he was in school, Kerry would surreptitiously teach herself Christmas carols on the instrument. Today her CD, It's a Wonderful Life, on World in Motion Records shows off her full talents, with some Christmastime originals as well as rich folk-rock arrangements of lesser-performed carols such as "Lullay Lully" and "The Wexford Carol."

The soulful Blind Boys of Alabama deliver rousing gospel and rich harmonies on this Christmas disc. They are backed by an eclectic roster of singers and players, including Tom Waits, Chrissie Hynde, Richard Thompson, Solomon Burke and others.