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At a time when hip-hop dominates the R&B scene, it's often easier for a rapper to achieve commercial success than a singer. Our music critic examines why that is, in his review of two new albums by R&B vocalists: Ghetto Classics by Jaheim and On the Jungle Floor by Van Hunt.

The new album 3 showcases Lafayette Gilchrist's maximalist jazz piano in a trio setting rather than with his seven-piece New Volcanoes band. Even in the more intimate arrangement, Gilchrist isn't afraid to make the box shout; this is jazz from artists influenced by everything from hip-hop to the D.C. area's distinctive go-go sound.

Singer Mary Weiss first found fame as a member of the Shangri-Las, with hits like "Leader of the Pack," "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" and "Give Him a Great Big Kiss." Now she's recorded her first album of new material since 1965. It's called Dangerous Game.

John Pizzarelli has been playing jazz guitar with his legendary father, Bucky, since he was 6 years old. John's latest album is Dear Mr. Sinatra, on which he plays songs written for Ol' Blue Eyes. Pizzarelli appears at the Birdland jazz club in Manhattan this week.

He's written five novels featuring the working-class Boston private detective team of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. They include A Drink Before the War, Darkness, Take My Hand, Sacred, Gone Baby Gone and Prayers for Rain. Lehane abandoned the duo for his book about the effect of an abduction on a group of boys. It's a thriller, Mystic River, and it's been made into a new film directed by Clint Eastwood.

He has written his first novel for adults, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The narrator of the story is an autistic teenager who is obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and who must prove his innocence when a neighborhood dog is killed. One reviewer described it as "wonderful, simple, moving, and likely to be a smash." Haddon lives in England and teaches creative writing for the Arvon Foundation and for Oxford University.

Susan Orlean is a staff writer at The New Yorker. In 1994 she wrote a profile of David Friedman, one of the Friedman sons. David was known as Silly Billy, a popular clown who was a favorite at children's birthday parties in New York City. David's father and brother were accused of molesting children, and the family's story is told through their own home movies in the documentary film Capturing the Friedmans. Orlean is also the author of the best-selling book, The Orchid Thief.

He's a longtime correspondent on health and science policy for The New York Times. In his new book, Protecting America's Health: the FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation, he chronicles the history of the Food and Drug Administration from its start during the administration of Teddy Roosevelt. Hilts also broke the now-famous story of the Brown and Williamson tobacco industry papers, and is the author of Smoke Screen: The Truth Behind the Tobacco Industry Cover-Up.

They cover the military for The Washington Post. They'll discuss military preparedness for the war with Iraq. They collaborated on the special report "Unrivaled Military Feels Strains of Unending War: For U.S. Forces, a Technological Revolution and a Constant Call to Do More." In it they said, "The more capable the U.S. military has become, the more it has been asked to do, and now strains are beginning to show."

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Get Rich or Die Tryin' (Interscope Records), the new CD from rapper 50 Cent.