Tribute to a Brazilian Legend : Bandleader Glen Garrett of North Hollywood is working on a project honoring the work of the late pop singer Elis Regina.

B ird Lives!

That was the graffiti in New York and other jazz Meccas after the death of bop giant Charlie Parker in 1955.

Similarly, Brazilians scratched out the phrase Elis Vive , which means “Elis Lives,” after the death of Elis Regina in 1982. Regina, a superb Brazilian pop singer, was the first to record tunes by many renowned songwriters.

Glen Garrett is a huge fan of Regina, who was reaching new heights in her career when she died of a cocaine overdose at the age of 38. Although Regina’s records have been very difficult to get in the United States, Garrett, a North Hollywood free-lance woodwind player and bandleader, owns six.

“I don’t think that whatever albums Elis made, they made much of an impact here. Yet she was responsible for launching the careers of many songwriters--Milton (Nascimento), Ivan Lins, Caetano Veloso, Joao Bosco,” Garrett said in a phone conversation from the home he shares with his wife, Andrea, and their two children--Dale, 3 1/2, and Leah, nearly 2.

Garrett and his exhilarating 20-piece Brazilian/jazz orchestra, Feijoada Completa, along with singer Katia Moraes, will pay tribute to Regina on Tuesday night at the Moonlight Tango Cafe in Sherman Oaks.

“This is music that Katia and I like very much, and it deserves to be heard and recognized,” said Garrett, whose fondness for Brazilian music developed when he lived in that South American country as a youth.

Garrett, Moraes and company will re-create 10 tunes recorded by Regina, including Ary Barroso’s “Brazil”; “Ponte de Aria,” which Nascimento wrote and recorded with saxophonist Wayne Shorter; Lins’ “Dinorah, Dinorah,” which has also been recorded by guitarist/singer George Benson, and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s classic “Aguas de Marco.”

Working on the project since January, Garrett has copied off records the arrangements of Regina’s renditions by such acclaimed Brazilian arrangers as Roberto Menescal and Cesar Camargo Mariano (the latter lived in Los Angeles for a while during the late ‘80s). Garrett then expanded those orchestrations for his ensemble, which he has been leading off and on since the late ‘70s. These orchestrations will get their debut at the Moonlight.

Garrett said he would not have attempted this tribute without Moraes, a native of Brazil who has been a member of Feijoada Completa for two years and who also leads the group the Rio Thing.

“Brazilian popular music is primarily vocal music and before I had Katia in the band, I was making vocal music into instrumental,” he said. “Now with Katia here, it’s vocals with instrumental accompaniment, and when we do play the melody, the fact she has sung has helped our interpretations because we can hear the correct phrasing and make that work in our playing.”

As a teen-ager, Garrett, who was born in Salt Lake City, lived in Porto Alegre, a town in the southern portion of Brazil. “There was music everywhere,” he recalled. “In the neighborhood, you heard music coming from loudspeakers in front of record stores, or you sometimes heard drums being played in the distance. And people sang along with the radio.”

After completing his master’s degree in music at Cal State Northridge, where he teaches a class called “Music in Contemporary Society,” Garrett became a member of Los Angeles’ Brazilian music community, playing with guitarists Oscar Castro-Neves and Kleber Jorge, and saxophonist Moacir Santos. Those experiences led him to start Feijoada Completa, which is named after the Brazilian national dish, a savory black bean stew.

Garrett makes his living in the film and TV studios by playing in pit bands and at parties and by teaching. Feijoada Completa is his hobby. “It’s what I do with almost all my spare time,” he said.

When talking about honoring Regina, the musician said quietly: “Elis should still be with us. We shouldn’t have to do tributes.”

Where and When What: Glen Garrett’s Feijoada Completa performs at Moonlight Tango Cafe, 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Hours: 8 and 10 p.m. Tuesday. Price: $12 cover, two-drink minimum. Call: (818) 788-2000.