Firing Off an Erratic Blast of ‘Buckshot’ : * 1/2; BRANFORD MARSALIS AND DJ PREMIER, “Buckshot LeFonque” (<i> Columbia</i> )

This project was trumpeted as the ultimate jazz and hip-hop merger, with tenor sax player Branford Marsalis writing, producing, arranging and playing in a collaboration with producer-rapper DJ Premier of Gang Starr.

But they really went astray.

Using assorted, little-known vocalists, they branch in too many directions--also melding jazz with R&B;, rock, reggae and funk. They even include some limp, schmaltzy R&B; ballads. Quincy Jones did this kind of album much better back in the ‘70s.

You get the feeling that Marsalis and DJ Premier feel that adding jazz touches to anything automatically elevates it. But most of this album is pretty mundane, with the experiments hardly scratching the surface.

If Marsalis and Premier had stuck with rap, they might have created a knockout jazz-rap album. An indication of what they can do is the hard-driving “No Pain, No Gain.” Featuring a raging rap by Uptown, it’s one of the year’s best rap singles. There are two other exceptional tracks: one jazz-rap and the other poet Maya Angelou’s recitation of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” over a jazzy track.

There aren’t even any top-notch Marsalis solos on the album. The “Tonight Show” bandleader plays throughout on the funk and hip-hop-inflected instrumental tracks, but he’s mostly in his Kenny G mode--serving up lame lite jazz.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).