Singer-Saxophonist George Butts to Open Club in San Clemente : Jazz: After paying his dues in clubs and bars for years, the Georgia native will try his hand at running his own operation.

It’s almost midnight on a Saturday at John Dominis restaurant and the tiny dance floor is packed with people grinding and shaking to a funky version of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing.” A voice that recalls Gaye’s high, sweet tone breaks off to be replaced by the simple, heartfelt crooning of an alto saxophone, while the dancers intensify their movements.

Only after the song ends and the floor clears is it apparent that the vocalist and saxophonist are the same man. Dressed in a white tuxedo with a couple of instrument straps hanging around his neck, George Butts accepts the applause with a smile and a nod to the dancers and those seated around the lounge.

“I’m a simple guy, really,” says Butts, 39. “I just blow the saxophone and people like what I do.”

“People love him,” says Don Martinez, on the phone from Las Vegas’ Tropicana hotel, where Butts will be appearing this New Year’s Eve. “We can’t get him to come out here enough,” adds Martinez, the hotel’s stage manager.

What makes Butts so popular? Probably his infectious mixture of danceable pop, R&B; and contemporary jazz. With keyboardist Charles Kobrinsky, who supplies an entire rhythm section via his synthesizer, Butts plays a number of Orange and Los Angeles county clubs.

And recently, he has taken a leap to the other side of the nightclub stage, thanks to the support of one of his biggest fans, developer Ray Campbell. The two are joining forces to create the George Butts Jazz Club, which will be located in the old California First Federal building in San Clemente on El Camino Real. The club should be open in the spring after $250,000 worth of renovation to the building.

“I love what this man does,” Campbell says, “and I’m going to wrap the success of this club around him. We’ll make him a bigger star than he already is.”

Born in Seville, Ga., Butts grew up listening to R&B; greats who lived or performed in nearby Macon. “Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex. I got to hear them all and meet them all,” he recalls. “But Marvin Gaye was the king, as far as what I want to do as a singer, as far as having charisma and developing a style. It’s like smooth. “

Before he was 16, the self-taught Butts was performing professionally with his band, Brown and Tan Beatles. “We had the wigs, the suits and everything.” The group was spotted by James Brown’s manager in 1965 and asked to open for the Godfather of Soul’s Southern tour. “He (Brown) liked me so much he brought me out to play with his band every night.”

After moving to Boston, Butts spent 13 years paying dues in local clubs and bars, playing “that funky stuff.” During that time, he performed with another of his idols, Teddy Pendergrass, while appearing in a Newport, R.I., club along with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.

Then, in 1978, a drummer friend, Tyrone Moss, invited Butts to come West.

“I came out to visit and never went back, except to close up my apartment,” Butts says. “It was December, and I had just left behind all that snow. I started playing around, and one thing led to another.” He settled in Dana Point and formed the now-defunct George Butts & the Hot Cross Buns. He has since moved to Laguna Niguel.

These days Butts can be heard locally at the Crown House in Laguna Niguel. If you’re lucky enough to find a copy, his 1986 album, “I Love You So Much,” combines pop numbers like “Saving All My Love” with his originals and more jazz-oriented numbers from Gato Barbieri and Carlos Santana.

His goal with his own club is, he says, to be “first class. We’ll have all the nice toys: neon, a good piano and a great sound system, a place where people can come in and be comfortable. I’ll handle the entertainment, while Ray takes care of the business end.”

Butts realizes that performing in clubs may not have prepared him for actually running one.

“I think it’s a challenge to venture into another area and to have the opportunity to see the other side of the business,” he says.

“A lot of people have asked why we don’t open up in Newport or someplace up there. But San Clemente is an up-and-coming town. They have a few rock clubs but not a first-class jazz operation. “

George Butts plays Sunday through Wednesday at 9 p.m. at the Crown House Restaurant, 32802 S. Pacific Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, where his engagement resumes Jan. 7. Admission: free. Information: (714) 496-5773.