Lettau Takes a Big Step Up by Signing With JVC Label

Years of hard work are paying off for jazz singer Kevyn Lettau, who moved from San Diego to Los Angeles in 1985 to further her career. Two weeks ago, Lettau signed a five-album deal with JVC, a major move up from Nova Records, which released Lettau’s self-titled debut album last year.

Of course, there’s a chance that going big-time will dilute Lettau’s music. In the past, much of her charm came from earthy, emotional vocals, often delivered in simple acoustic jazz settings.

Her debut album showed a move away from those organic roots, toward a highly polished sound that sometimes sacrifices raw emotional punch, but which appeals to radio programming directors weaned on Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.

Lettau, a graduate of Torrey Pines High School, had already completed a new recording when she signed her new deal. Tentatively titled “Simple Life,” it will be released on JVC in September. Her husband, Michael Shapiro, co-produced it with another former San Diegan, Marcel East. Shapiro also plays drums and percussion on the album.

Joining Lettau and Shapiro on Lettau’s pending JVC debut are such top musicians as Brazilian vocalist Dori Caymmi, Yellowjackets’ keyboardist Russell Ferrante and percussionist Luis Conte.

Last week, Lettau was out of the country, touring with Sergio Mendes’ band.

But her manager, Rebecca Risman, who helped secure the deal with JVC, said it comes at a time when Lettau is poised for big things.

“Kevyn and Michael came to us with her first album on Nova, and we worked that record and got it to No. 8 on the jazz charts,” said Risman, whose promotional company, All That Jazz, helps artists crack radio station playlists. “Then they came to us with Braziljazz,” a band featuring Lettau, Shapiro and Del Mar guitarist Peter Sprague. That recording was more jazz-oriented and didn’t chart as high as her debut, but it made the teens on the jazz charts.

“We really wanted to take a big step forward. Nova is a really nice small company, but we needed a medium-sized one for what we want to do, one that has deeper pockets--for recording, promoting, distributing. Certainly JVC has a good reputation. They are known, they sponsor jazz concerts, they do a whole bunch of terrific stuff.”

Lettau’s JVC debut will include several new original songs, plus her versions of instrumental songs by other artists, to which Lettau has added lyrics. One of these is the Yellowjackets’ “Out of Town.”

Risman said some of Lettau’s own songs are dedicated to pet causes such as the environment and the homeless. Also included are Lettau’s reading of Joni Mitchell’s “People’s Parties,” and a new, more lushly produced rendition of “Miracle of Love,” an original by Lettau, Shapiro and Sprague that first appeared on the Braziljazz album.

Several companies were interested in Lettau, but JVC was the logical choice, Risman said.

“We went with JVC because we felt that, since they are new on the scene, Kevyn would be given priority,” she said. Lettau is among the label’s first new domestic artists. “Also, one of the important negotiating points was creative license. Creatively, it’s Kevyn and Michael’s ball game, and that was real important for us. They have a vision for where they want to go.”

The Horton Grand Hotel has taken a big step toward enhancing its stature as a jazz venue, signing on as the new underwriter of KPBS-TV’s “Club Date” program, which is taped live in a club-like setting at the station’s San Diego State University studio.

The Horton Grand’s reputation has been on the rise since Elario’s, the La Jolla restaurant and night club, stopped booking national and international jazz acts at the end of last year.

But the new deal comes as somewhat of a surprise because the Gaslamp Quarter hotel is in the midst of bankruptcy reorganization. The hotel’s new commitment of time and, more significantly, money, is a sign that its new management, Annapolis, Md.-based Grand Heritage Hotels, is committed to the jazz program as one tool for the hotel’s long-range success.

Under the new agreement, the hotel and its talent coordinator, flutist Holly Hofmann, will line up acts for six new “Club Date” shows. The hotel will also host “Club Date” tapings (supplying wine) and help foot the costs of producing and airing the shows, which are carried by 320 public television stations.

A new “Club Date” season is already under way with repeats of earlier programs, but the Horton Grand won’t officially step into its role as underwriter until the new shows begin airing Aug. 7.

Hofmann has lined up several artists for new “Club Dates” to be taped this summer and fall, including Sue Raney, Charlie Haden’s Quartet West and Shorty Rogers.

The Horton Grand’s jazz crowds are growing. Several recent weekend nights have been SRO, and when flutist James Newton appeared earlier this month, Hofmann turned away at least 40 fans.

Meanwhile Steve Satkowski, proprietor of the Jazz Note in Pacific Beach, the Horton Grand’s only San Diego competition when it comes to world-class jazz, said there was no bidding war for the underwriting tie-in with “Club Date.”

As talent coordinator at Elario’s, Satkowski had co-produced numerous “Club Dates,” and Elario’s provided underwriting support. With the Jazz Note, Satkowski has co-produced shows featuring trumpeter Tom Harrell with pianist Larry Vuckovich, and pianist Les McCann.

“There wasn’t any competition,” he said. “The last ‘Club Date’ we did was Les McCann. When you underwrite, it costs money, and the amount per show on a national level was certainly well beyond my budget. I’m working very hard on the day-to-day operation of the Jazz Note, and I don’t have the time and effort to put into co-producing ‘Club Date,’ as I did in years past. It’s a great series, and, if this is what it takes to keep it going, I think it’s terrific.”

CRITIC’S CHOICE / GUITARIST LIEBERT ON A ROLL

In less than three years, guitarist Ottmar Liebert has gone from producing his own albums to being a commercial hit.

Liebert’s easily digestible music, a hybrid of flamenco, jazz, pop and Euro-folk influences, isn’t for jazz purists or those who like their guitar on the complex and cerebral side. But it certainly sells well. His 1990 debut release, “Nouveau Flamenco,” has gone gold (500,000 copies); the follow-up, “Poets and Angels,” has sold 150,000, and last year’s “Barrasco,” which received a Grammy nomination, has topped 250,000 so far.

Liebert opens for singer Natalie Cole at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Open Air Theatre at San Diego State University. Cole’s popularity is riding high on the release last year of “Unforgettable,” a tribute to her father, Nat King Cole.