SOUNDS UP THE COAST : The Son of Cahn : Jazz guitarist Steve Khan’s distinctive spare style can be heard Feb. 3 at Joseppi’s.

Jazz guitarist Steve Khan grew up in the cradle of show business. His father, Sammy Cahn, was one of the most celebrated lyricists of all time, having penned countless classic songs for the likes of Frank Sinatra in his heyday, for musicals and films.

Seeking to find his own identity apart from his father’s considerable shadow, Steve changed the spelling of his name over 20 years ago. He moved to New York and went on to play a role in the fusion boom of the ‘70s, playing with the Brecker Brothers, and has built up a solid discography as a solo artist that has established him as a guitaristic force to reckon with.

If his is not a household name, Khan’s solo work and distinctive spare style have made an impact on the jazz scene.

Ironically, Khan’s current Southern California road trip--which will bring him to Joseppi’s in Santa Barbara on Feb. 3--is the first time he has played under his own name on the West Coast, from whence he comes. He is joined by bassist Drew Gress and drummer Ben Perowsky (a potent player who appeared at Joseppi’s a few months back with his group, Lost Tribe).

But Khan’s belated homecoming has been less than sweet. Khan was flying west with his wife Jan. 15 when his father passed away.

On an earlier trip to visit him in the hospital, Cahn’s state of health--already bad, due to diabetes and prostate cancer--was worsened by a stroke that left him unable to speak.

In a phone interview from San Francisco the day before his father’s funeral, Khan reflected on their relationship.

“I saw his last talk-performance, at the New School in New York,” said Khan. “It was supposed to be an interview with the head of the motion picture department. My dad manipulated the whole situation to really do parts of his one-man show.

“It was funny watching him bowl over the professor and proceed with his own agenda.”

In the Cahn family, the father’s musical agenda was different than his son’s, with some overlap. In recent years, Khan included in his albums material of his father. “Headline,” Khan’s latest album, features “Autumn in Rome,” a buried treasure of a Cahn song.

“I’ve always tried to do tunes that nobody else does, if possible,” the guitarist said. “I just found ‘Autumn in Rome’ to be very beautiful.

“I had recorded ‘Dedicated to You’ on my earlier album, ‘Public Access,’ which was inspired by the Johnny Hartman/John Coltrane version from their Impulse recording. That was very special for both dad and I. We were both crazy about that.”

What did Cahn, being a word man out of the tin-pan alley tradition, think about freer jazz versions of his songs?

“Well, I think right up until the point where the melody ends, he was right there,” Khan said, laughing.

“When I told him I was doing ‘Autumn in Rome,’ he said ‘Jeez, of all the great tunes you could be doing, why that one?’ And then when I sent him the CD, he said, ‘boy, 6 1/2 minutes . . . 6 1/2 minutes . . . boy, 6 1/2 minutes.’ He said it about four times, nothing else.

“I said, ‘well, Dad, yes, the melody is at the beginning and the end.’ And he said ‘yeah, but there’s all that stuff in between . . . . ‘ I said, ‘this is the nature of what I do. What can I tell you?’ ”

Does Khan now feel inspired to delve deeper into the songbook of his father, with his passing?

“Were I to do something of Dad’s, I’d certainly stay away from the things that everybody plays. Dad had a great sentimentality about him. Oftentimes, that area between being dangerously corny and genuinely touching and sentimental is a fine line to walk.”

In the past, Khan has done a good deal of work as a sideman, for Michael Franks and others. At the moment, though, he wants to focus on his own public profile. Khan has long been something of a cult hero alongside the somewhat elusive but legendary bassist Anthony Jackson.

Khan explained that he has been “pursuing trying to make myself a marquee jazz name, to where I can play live more.”

Khan’s new album, “Headline” (Blue Moon) uses two separate rhythm sections--one with straight-ahead jazz veterans Al Foster on drums and Ron Carter on bass, and one with drummer Dennis Chambers, bassist Jackson, and percussionist Manolo Badrena. The latter group normally performs Khan’s original music, an atmospheric concoction that is electric but subtle, without a fusion aftertaste.

Originally, Khan was going to record only with the tried-and-true jazz foundation of Carter and Foster, but the second rhythm section entered the picture at the behest of the record label. Khan was happy to oblige.

Khan belongs to that class of jazz musician who hasn’t been able to leap into a more general public profile. He believes the main fault lies in the narrow filter of exposure allowed in radio.

“People will ask questions like ‘what do you see happening in the future?’ I wouldn’t even dare venture a guess. I would certainly hope that there will be a change in radio in America, so that jazz-oriented music is given a substantial voice again.”

This week, anyway, Khan’s live artform can be heard, at a Joseppi’s near you.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Steve Khan, at Joseppi’s, 434 State St., Santa Barbara, on Wednesday, 9 p.m. For more information, call 962-5516.