Records are rated on a scale of one (poor) to four (excellent) stars.

Jazz

RAY CHARLES: "Genius Loves Company." Concord.

With some help from a few of his friends, Ray Charles put together what became the final recording of a long and productive musical career.

This set of duets with a variety of artists ranges across a career's worth of musical styles -- jazz, blues, country, soul, pop -- with the same ease that Ray's soulful pipes caress his own diverse musical choices.

While some of the match-ups work better than others, and you can sometimes hear the frailty and illness in his vocals (he died June 10), Charles never fails to create an emotional connection -- always his musical strong point.

Some of the best here are with Norah Jones on the torchy "Here We Go Again," Diana Krall on "You Don't Know Me," Bonnie Raitt on "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind," a bluesy union with B.B. King on "Sinner's Prayer" and a live romp with Van Morrison on "Crazy Love."

It's one of his best albums in years -- a fitting finale to a career that early on tagged him "the Genius," a label that, for once, wasn't just hype.

It's also an enhanced CD, which means that it contains a short filmed interview, playable in most computers.

The timing of this release, by the way, dovetails nicely with the new movie "Ray," premiering nationwide Friday with Jamie Foxx starring as Charles.

-- Jim White

RICARDO SILVEIRA AND LUIZ AVELLAR: "Ricardo Silveira and Luiz Avellar Play the Music of Milton Nascimento Live." Adventure Music.

Brazilian pop singer and composer Milton Nascimento's mysterious, melodic and rhythmically challenging tunes have long intrigued jazz instrumentalists -- alto saxophonist Paul Desmond's 1969 "From the Hot Afternoon" and tenor sax man Wayne Shorter's 1974 album "Native Dancer" are just two noteworthy examples.

Add to the list a just-released CD recorded live in a Rio De Janeiro theater in 2002 by guitarist Ricardo Silveira and pianist Luiz Avellar, both of whom have performed with Nascimento. The duo offers instrumental, improvisational takes on songs the singer either wrote or made famous.

Silveira, known to American jazz fans for his popular Verve Forecast discs in the early '90s, forgoes his stinging electric guitar work for a quieter but still-simmering acoustic groove. Avellar, whose accomplished, lyrical playing and occasional bursts of primal funk remind me a bit of Keith Jarrett, never overpowers Silveira's delicate nylon-stringed sound.

Percussionist Robertinho Silva, part of Nascimento's bands for 25 years, augments the duo on five of 10 tracks, and his drizzling, clicking, whistling array of instruments lays down a magic carpet on which the music really takes off.

Highlights include Nascimento's uptempo tunes "Vera Cruz" and "Cravo e Canela" ("Cinnamon and Clove"), and Silveira's solo guitar version of Nascimento's gorgeous ballad "Travessia." "Maria, Maria" also is a treat, although Silveira's guitar is out of tune just enough to notice.

-- Peter B. King

Country

DOLLY PARTON: "Live and Well." Sugar Hill.

It's understandable if you don't want to hear "Stairway to Heaven" one more time. Except this time. The epic rock classic in all its 7 1/2-minute glory has been reborn with crisp acoustic instrumentation and the unmistakable pixie voice of Dolly Parton.

Yes, Dolly Parton, who began her career as Porter Wagoner's sidekick playing a buxom airhead and whose debut album inaccurately cast her as a "Dumb Blonde."

A prolific songwriter behind country classics "Coat of Many Colors" and "Jolene," and pop classics including "9 to 5," "Islands in the Stream" and "I Will Always Love You," Parton is an immensely talented woman who grew too old for contemporary radio play. After losing major label support, she fought back by signing to an indie and releasing some of the most stunning art of her 40-year career.

Parton's new CD, "Live and Well," is part of a live DVD package recorded at her Dollywood theater. The double CD includes 23 songs stretching back to the start of her career, including new takes on her unforgettable hits, bluegrass and mountain music from her Americana rebirth and unique interpretations of Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush," Bread's "If" and the Led Zeppelin standard.

In her colloquial drawl, Parton explains the origin of several songs: Jolene was an actual woman who tried to steal her husband, and "9 to 5" was inspired by the nervous typewriter-like tapping of her fingernails on the set during the making of the 1980 film that co-starred Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Frequent banter with the crowd shows Parton at her sharp and witty best, even as she playfully toys with drag queens impersonating her in the audience.

Parton, simply put, is a monumental interpreter of musical Americana.

-- John Hayes