Michael Wolff; The World's Most Dangerous Party

Arsenio Hall's and David Letterman's bandleaders take radically different routes on these side trips from their late-night gigs. Michael Wolff follows the high road, laying down a creditable jazz performance over a variety of slick funk and hip-hop grooves -- occasionally even sizzling. Paul Shaffer leads his band down the low road, through two solid CDs of instrumental covers (from Led Zeppelin's ''Black Dog'' to James Brown's ''Doing It to Death''), wasting a multitude of big-shot guests in the process. One long Stupid Human Trick. ''Wolff'': B; ''Party'': C-