MIXED MEDIA : ** 1/2 “CROSSTOWN TRAFFIC” By Charles Shaar Murray, <i> St. Martin’s Press ($18.95)</i> : <i> Items in this periodic survey of pop-related books, videocassettes and laser discs are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to five (a classic). </i>

“Crosstown Traffic” isn’t another Jimi Hendrix biography, but an attempt to assess the late guitarist’s life and legacy in the context of several black music traditions. The roots-savvy British critic Murray tackles some provocative themes--Hendrix the black American in a white British rock world, his sexual wild-man image vs. the instrumental visionary. But his arguments meander so much at first that Hendrix becomes more a springboard for Murray’s theories than the central thread whose life linked those issues. Just when “Crosstown Traffic” seems like a missed opportunity, Murray rallies behind some incisive, caustic musical analysis, particularly a masterful chapter on Hendrix as R&B;/soulman. Flawed and often frustrating, but worth weathering the rough stretches.