HOME TURF HARD FOR CARAVAN

Do n ‘t ask blues musician Jimmy Caravan what measure of success it takes to get bookings in Orange County clubs--he’s still looking for the answer to that question.

“In Los Angeles, it’s difficult to get into the clubs,” Caravan, 44, said during an interview earlier this week in the garage recording studio at his Anaheim home. “In Orange County, it’s impossible.”

Organist Caravan, however, isn’t just another struggling local musician griping about a lack of work. After starting his Blues Caravan group in Orange County clubs in 1983 as a showcase for various blues performers, Caravan has spent the last year playing repeatedly in L.A.-area clubs, including Carmelo’s, Hop Singh’s, the Palomino and the Jazz Safari in Long Beach. On Aug. 16-17, the group will play Carlos ‘N’ Charlie’s in Hollywood, one of the few times a non-celebrity act has been booked into the restaurant’s entertainment showroom.

In addition, the Blues Caravan’s self-titled debut album, recently released on the GNP Crescendo jazz-blues label, has been receiving air play on stations from California to Florida, from Connecticut to Oregon and most points in between. Nearly a dozen Los Angeles radio stations are playing the record, including jazz stations KKGO (105.1 FM) and Saddleback College’s KSBR (88.5 FM), R&B-oriented; stations such as KUTE (101.9 FM) and KJLH (102.3 FM) and even a few rock stations such as KNAC (105.5 FM).

So you’d think the credentials might be enough to interest club owners in Caravan’s home turf.

“It’s almost cost-ineffective to try to play here,” Caravan said. “We’ve gotten into most L.A. clubs with only a few phone calls, but it takes 30 to 50 calls just to get through to the Orange County club owners. I still get calls from our Orange County fans wanting to know why we aren’t playing here. I can’t explain it.”

New York guitarist Charles Ferris, who co-produced the album with Neil Norman, suggests that such credentials have less impact in the entertainment-industry mecca of Southern California. “That’s the thing I hate about L.A.--everybody’s a star, so nobody’s a star.”

Added Caravan: “In Southern California, you’d better love what you do because other rewards are going to be hard to come by.”

Another reason may be that some booking agents aren’t used to the concept of the group. Unlike most bands with a fixed personnel roster, the Blues Caravan has a constantly changing core of backing musicians and wide variety of featured soloists, which gives the band its slightly nomadic character.

“People will ask, ‘How many musicians are in the band?’ and I say, ‘That depends,’ ” Caravan said with a smile. “Someone can come and see us four or five nights in a row and they might not see the same musicians.”

What audiences can depend on, however, is seeing an upbeat show featuring noteworthy but often unsung heroes of blues, R&B; and jazz. Among the dozens of performers who have played with the Blues Caravan are Lowell Fulson, Big Mama Thornton, Big Joe Turner, Eddie (Cleanhead) Vinson, Joe Houston and Big Jay McNeely.

When making the album, however, rather than spotlight guest vocalists the group instead recorded a half-dozen energetic instrumentals live to showcase the Blues Caravan itself. To complement the record, Caravan has put together a whole line of Blues Caravan jackets, T-shirts, baseball caps and other merchandise.

The attention to such business details is part of Caravan’s observation, formed during more than two decades as a professional musician, that success increasingly depends upon the efforts of the musician, rather than the work of managers or agents.

“The best manager you can have is yourself,” said Caravan, who spent the late ‘60s with the same management company that handled John Coltrane, Joe Williams, Cannonball Adderley and other blues and jazz acts. “You are looking out after your own best interests and you don’t have 99 other clients to juggle.”

Caravan now handles all his own business dealings on a personal computer and matter of factly commented that he’s gone through about 15,000 sheets of computer paper since forming the Blues Caravan. “I used to just go out, play a job then go home,” he said. “I never worried about meeting people or learning who the audiences were. I could work a place for six months and not know any of the customers’ names.”

Turning to his briefcase, Caravan extracted a thick stack of computer paper that unfolded into a 20-foot-long list of names and addresses.

“This is the list I go through regularly, calling people up and telling them where we are going to be next and asking them to come by. It’s something you just have to do now.

“And once you get on my computer list,” Caravan added with a laugh, “you never get off unless you die.”

LIVE ACTION: Tickets go on sale Monday for the Beach Boys Sept. 2 show at the Pacific Amphitheatre. Willie Nelson’s concert at the Pacific has been rescheduled for Oct. 20. Tickets for the original July 9 date will be honored. . . . Tickets also go on sale Monday for the Miles Davis-Crusaders show Sept. 20 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. . . . David Lindley & El Rayo-X returns to the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach on Aug. 18. . . . John Anderson will play the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana on Aug. 19. . . . Nick Pyzow will play on Wednesday and Aug. 13 at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach. . . . Leatherwolf will be at Radio City in Anaheim on Aug. 17. . . . Jamie James & the Kingbees will perform at Safari Sam’s in Huntington Beach on Aug. 18. . . . Agent Orange will appear at Spatz in Huntington Harbour on Aug. 10.