Schuur Step Away From the Shadows : Vocalist: The jazz singer, who hasn’t released an album since 1988, will be more than 100 pounds lighter and emotionally clearer at the Coach House.

What a difference a year or two can make. Diane Schuur hasn’t released an album since 1988, but she has used the free time to create a brand new image. When the Washington state-based jazz singer appears at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano tonight, she will look svelte and slim--more than 100 pounds lighter than she was two years ago.

“I’m a mere shadow of former self,” she joked earlier this week.

But the changes reach well beyond her new silhouette. She has also spent the last two years trying to bring order to her professional and personal lives.

The long hiatus from recording resulted from a nasty dispute with GRP Records over the duration of her contract and the quality of promotion for her albums. It dragged on until GRP’s recent acquisition by MCA Records.

A new album is scheduled for release early next year. “It takes a new slant for me,” Schuur says. “I wanted to spread my wings beyond the jazz genre. Not that there’s anything wrong with jazz, but I wanted to add some R&B; and some ballads. I love like ‘What a Difference a Day Makes’ and ‘Unforgettable.’ We were lucky enough to get Andre Fischer--Natalie Cole’s husband--to produce it, and he was excellent, one of the best producers I’ve had, just full of enthusiasm and energy. Just great to work with.”

Schuur has also begun to exorcise some demons that confronted her during her rapid rise from Seattle nightclubs to command performances at the White House. The star-making machinery, and Schuur’s reaction to it, had unhealthy consequences for the blind singer.

“I’m in a 12-step program now,” she says, “and it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. I know I’m a compulsive person, and I have to be careful that I don’t go from one extreme to another. I shouldn’t overeat, but then I shouldn’t under-eat, either, because that’s as much a form of compulsive acting-out as overeating is.”

Equally important, she says, the program has helped her deal with a tendency to beat up on herself: “It’s always been much easier for me to say, ‘Oh, well, you were a bad girl; you screwed up again.’ I’m trying to get myself out of that way of thinking, and it’s had a real positive effect in many parts of my life.”

Schuur’s audiences have begun to see and hear some of the tangible consequences. She is more open, more communicative and, clearly, more self confident. And her singing has become enriched. An often-criticized tendency toward shrillness in her upper register has been replaced by a warmer, more centered sound.

“There was a reason for my singing that way,” she says. “I was carrying around so much weight--physical weight, emotional weight--that it was hard to project. So I pushed too hard and did the best I could with what I had. Now I’m lighter, in a lot of ways. I’ve still got the power, but now it feels as though it’s harnessed.

“I like to think that what I’m doing is finally allowing the vulnerability of the little child inside me to come out. And that feels really good.”