Underrated/Overrated

UNDERRATED

‘Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith’: Miss the rollicking musical gumbo of HBO’s “Treme”? Oakland-born saxophonist Handy captures the groove-heavy sound of New Orleans on this recently released album. Handy’s name may be familiar to those who saw Robert Altman’s “Kansas City,” where he played Coleman Hawkins, but here he conjures the soul-jazz spirit of organist Jimmy Smith, including irresistibly funk-laden takes on “Organ Grinder’s Swing” and “Ready ‘n Able.”

‘The Bridge’ on Hulu: Lately, it seems if you want to know what makes a new TV show great, you have to get to its source. The latest example is this moody crime drama, which began in Scandinavia as the story of a body discovered on the border between Denmark and Sweden (repurposed into the U.S.-Mexican border for the FX series of the same name). Delivered with icy yet atmospheric restraint, the original feels far less familiar and is that much stronger for it.

OVERRATED

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: How do you not love the sentiment behind the materialism-rejecting “Thrift Shop” and “Same Love,” a song that breaks new ground in mainstream hip-hop by speaking out for gay rights? That said, how do you not dread the arrival of Sunday’s Grammy telecast, with prospects seeming eerily strong that this will be the year the Recording Academy finally honors hip-hop again in the major categories with a sanitized two-hit wonder?

Richard Sherman outrage: As we enter another week of head-spinning Super Bowl hype, featuring teams from Denver, Seattle and Madison Avenue, let’s temper the recent fury surrounding this defender. First, how amazing was it to hear an athlete actually say something in a post-game interview? And second, let’s not pretend that Sherman is “classless” in the context of our beloved, billion-dollar “Rollerball” league. If anything, his outburst was a blast of humanity.

chris.barton@latimes.com