Changes Still Flow for Kilauea : But the instrumental jazz ensemble remains devoted to entertaining, not alienating its audiences, says its leader, Daniel Ho.

Kilauea’s eruption into the instrumental music scene was one of the surprises of 1991. Led by keyboardist and native Hawaiian Daniel Ho, the group set a standard in brightly rhythmic, easily accessible melodic pop music.

“We try to keep the music very listener-friendly,” Ho said last week, “by always remembering that our audiences want to be entertained. We work very hard not to alienate them.”

The successful achievements of their first three albums on Brainchild Records seem to indicate that Kilauea--which performs Sunday at Valley College--has done a great deal of entertaining with no visible signs of alienation. “Antigua Blue,” the initial release, spent 19 weeks on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart; the second, “Tropical Pleasures,” hit the Top 10. Both reached No. 1 on Radio & Records’ air play chart. The current release, “Spring Break,” has entered the lofty top five on Radio & Records’ chart, and is expected to make an appearance on Billboard’s this week.

Curiously, Ho was not one of the group’s original members. Assembled by Brainchild’s owner Dean Whitney, Kilauea was intended to be a kind of studio variation on the Rippingtons. But when Whitney heard Ho’s demo recording, he quickly changed his mind.

“I always listen for good songs,” said Whitney, who had discovered Russ Freeman and the Rippingtons a few years earlier. “I’d been looking for a strong keyboard composer/performer, and when I heard Dan, I knew he was the one. He was 22 years old and inexperienced in the business, but I could just tell that the talent was there.”

Ho hadn’t anticipated that good luck would strike so rapidly. Freshly arrived from Hawaii, he had been working for a publishing company as a songwriter for six months when he decided to send out 50 demo tapes, “just to see what would happen.”

“I was really surprised,” he explained, “when Dean called me up and said, ‘I’d like to have you come and play on a record I’m working on with this group Kilauea.’

“So I came and played, and I guess I did fine, because then he said, ‘Look, instead of doing a solo record, how’d you like to lead the group?’ And I said, ‘All right! Anything you want!’ ”

Since the project was already under way, Ho played keyboards and led the band, but the material was provided by Russ Freeman of the Rippingtons.

“The second record was our transitional album,” Ho said. “I wrote the majority of the songs, although we still had a few of Russ’s tunes. Our new release, ‘Spring Break,’ is now pretty much what I want the group to be.”

The differences are noticeable. Although the group continues to list favorably on the contemporary jazz charts, Ho does not consider it a jazz-related ensemble in the style of the Rippingtons.

“Actually, I’m not a real big fan of straight-ahead jazz,” he explained. “I appreciate it, and I think it’s great music--but very complicated. I’m not sure it’s always music for the listener. I think it’s more for the player--a great joy to play, but maybe not so good to hear.

“And I find that I don’t listen to contemporary jazz much at all, either, because I hear too much of the same thing. There must be around 12,000 sax records out there, and thousands of keyboard records, and an awful lot of them sound alike to me. It’s like music you play in the background at an office.”

Background music is the last thing Ho wants from Kilauea. Ever-mindful of his listeners, his pieces always focus on musical communication and audience interaction.

“I have a great belief in the importance of a good melody, with strong harmonies and rhythms,” he said. “I see Kilauea as a real unit, an ensemble, rather than a bunch of individuals who are great soloists. So we feature the music, and try to entertain the audience with catchy melodies--melodies with hooks. I like to think what we do is pop songs without words.”

Kilauea’s success has been gratifying for other reasons, as well. As a child growing up on Oahu, Ho played organ, ukulele, piano and drums, and took voice and dance lessons. In his teens, he studied at the Dick Grove School of Music and the University of Hawaii.

But his father, a chemist, and his brother, an electrical engineer (Ho’s mother died when he was 6), have never quite shared his enthusiasm for the entertainment world.

“My family has been kind of skeptical of me being in the music business,” Ho said. “My dad once said, ‘You’ll never make it,’ and my brother told me to ‘stop chasing silly, childish dreams.’ So when I finally got around to making my first album, I thought, ‘OK, I can die now.’

“And now, at 25, with three albums, and things turning around financially, with maybe the possibility of doing film and TV music, I’m probably happier than I’ve even been. I guess it’s because I can finally stand up with my music and say, ‘Hey, look at me. I did it.’ ”

WHERE AND WHEN

What: Kilauea, appearing at the Pre-Playboy Jazz Festival, Monarch Quad, L.A. Valley College, 5800 Fulton Ave., Van Nuys.

Hours: 2 p.m. Sunday.

Price: Free.

Call: (310) 449-4088.