Lady B.J. Crosby Something of a ‘Find’ Down in Bayou

In the music business, “finds” sometimes come from unexpected sources. Virginia Sullivan assists promoter Rob Hagey. Last month, during Hagey’s Michelob Street Scene downtown, she happened to catch (Lady B.J.) Crosby at the Bayou Grill.

Impressed with Crosby, an unsigned R&B;/jazz singer with aspirations along Anita Baker/Dianne Reeves lines, Sullivan told Hagey about her. Equally impressed, he booked her at Elario’s, where she appears Thursday through Sunday.

The “thirtysomething” Crosby grew up in New Orleans singing gospel in church. In 1984, she collaborated with Ellis Marsalis (father of Wynton, Branford and Delfeayo) on a video tribute to Billie Holliday that won an Ace Award as Best Music Video from the American Cable Television Assn. The following year, she teamed with Marsalis and his band to record one side of an album titled “New New Orleans Jazz,” which was released in 1988.

Crosby’s other recording is a gospel duet on singer Daryl Coley’s “He’s Right on Time,” which made it to No. 3 on Billboard’s gospel chart last year.

Since moving to Los Angeles in 1987, Crosby has pursued work both as a vocalist and actress, primarily in musicals. She regularly plays L.A. jazz clubs, and last year, she appeared in the play “Voices,” a dramatic slice of black history presented at the Embassy Theatre.

Crosby admires the way singers like Reeves and Baker cross between radio formats, but considers her own singing to be more in a “Billie Holliday-Dinah Washington-Carmen McRae” vein. For smoothness, she also admires Johnny Mathis and the late Donny Hathaway.

While Crosby’s demo tape showcases her voice in both jazz and R&B; settings, she’ll lean toward straight-ahead jazz at Elario’s.

She plans to include her versions of “Skylark,” “A Night in Tunisia,” “My Favorite Things” (“more like Betty Carter than John Coltrane”) and one of Carter’s originals, “Tight.”

Backing Crosby will be San Diegan Kenny Ard on piano, and Los Angelenos Darrell Alston and Linda Kent on keyboards and drums. Showtimes are 8:30 and 10:30 each night.

KSDS-FM (88.3), the San Diego City College jazz station, shows no signs of realizing its long-awaited power increase, but the station has a assumed a higher profile in other ways in recent months.

The station’s more tangible presence comes courtesy of Jonathan Wood, a 25-year-old out to prove himself in his first radio industry job.

During the summer of 1990, Wood, a regular on-air personality at the station, made a proposal to station management. He wanted to help the station find underwriting.

Wood’s proposal was accepted, and he began soliciting donations in July of last year. Since then, he estimates he has brought in more than 25 underwriters, the largest paying in the $1,000s in exchange for public broadcasting-style “public service announcements” promoting their businesses.

“Our first breakthrough was the Beach House (a restaurant and jazz club in Mission Beach),” Wood says. “They eventually ran into financial problems, but they were our first underwriter. They committed to an $800 donation, but went out of business before they finished paying.”

Underwriting packages start at $300. Among the underwriters Wood has signed up are the Catamaran Resort Hotel; Blind Melon’s, the Pacific Beach blues club; the Jazz Note; Jazz by the Way; Sarah Bernhardt’s Pastry Shop, and Croce’s.

Besides bringing in bucks the station uses to meet the day-to-day expenses of staying on the air, Wood has helped KSDS raise its profile through its involvement in various public events.

At last month’s Michelob Street Scene, KSDS handed out several bumper stickers, hosted two stages and did live broadcasts both nights. Also last month, KSDS was the sole radio sponsor of the Adams Avenue Street Fair, handing out more bumper stickers and supplying emcees.

In August, after the Catamaran dropped its advertising/promotional deal with KIFM, KSDS came aboard as host of the hotel’s Wednesday “Jazz Nites.”

Wood estimates his underwriting efforts have raised about $10,000 to date--hardly a fortune, but a significant amount for a shoestring-budget college station.

But that doesn’t make much of a dent in the estimated $150,000 to $250,000 cost of the long-proposed new transmitter, which would increase power from 831 to 3,000 watts.

“If I could find five large corporations that wanted to chip in $50,000 apiece, this could be done correctly and could probably be done in two years,” Wood says. “But times are tight, and I haven’t seen any of our listeners or jazz fans offer amounts like that.”

Meanwhile, don’t forget that you can receive KSDS over most San Diego County cable television systems.

RIFFS: Guitarist Bill McPherson, former hotshot of San Diego State University’s Jazz Ensemble, and his band World Beat open for Paris-based African soukous band Loketo this Wednesday night at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. . . .

Pacific Beach saxman Steve Feierabend and several local cohorts band together as “The Lineup” for tonight’s “Jazz Live” concert in the San Diego City College theatre, broadcast over KSDS-FM (88.3). The impromptu group also includes John Opferkuch on piano, Dave Blackburn on drums and Rob Thorsen on bass. Material consists of standards and originals by band members.