Singer Stephanie Haynes Gives ‘Swing’ a Push : Jazz: The vocalist’s latest album is on her own label, and it shows off her versatility as well as that of her longtime collaborator, pianist Dave Mackay.

Singer Stephanie Haynes has taken matters into her own hands.

Her three previous recordings, including the critically praised 1989 release, “Here’s That Rainy Day” with pianist Cedar Walton on the Trend/Discovery label, were all for someone else’s label. But her latest, “Two on a Swing,” is all her own.

“I pretty much know what the situation is today with the recording companies--both the majors and the independents,” she explains, over the phone from her home in San Juan Capistrano. “They’re not signing new talent, especially singers. They’re mainly involved in reissues. And I didn’t want to wait around until someone decided to pick up what I had done.”

So Haynes recorded her own disc, a duo with pianist Dave Mackay, at keyboardist Daniel May’s Band-Ade studio in Long Beach last year, and formed her own label, Why Not Records, expressly for the release.

“When we first started recording, we didn’t really have a plan to do an album, but it began to unfold when we got together at Daniel’s studio. We were trying to cover a broad spectrum of moods and, as we went along, it sounded awfully good to us. So we began to think in terms of doing an album.”

May was instrumental in bringing Mackay and Haynes together. As music director of the Loew’s Hotel in Santa Monica, he paired the two to sing in the hotel’s lobby lounge, one of the city’s premier showcases for vocalists. Before that date some three years ago, Mackay and Haynes had not worked together.

“And Daniel kept us on, playing every Saturday, for almost a year,” Haynes says. “Dave and I developed a good rapport. He knows a lot of tunes. I know a lot of tunes. So we just seemed to hit it off. He’s one of the best solo pianists there ever was and has made many recordings. But none show him off to the extent this one does.”

Mackay, whose credits include work with saxophonist Sonny Stitt, trumpeters Chet Baker and Don Ellis and vocalists Vicki Hamilton and Bill Henderson, says he enjoys his association with Haynes.

“I’m always excited to work with Stephanie because I know something great is going to happen. She has a beautiful, full voice and can also get down and be very funky. She’s a very creative singer who brings new things to old tunes every time she does them. She takes the music to a different place.”

Haynes attributes their success to the fact that Mackay is also a vocalist. “He understands what the singer is going for. And he’s an extremely intuitive and sensitive player with technique to burn. Not only that, but he’s extremely versatile and knows a lot of piano styles.”

The album will be available by mail order and at Haynes’ various gigs around the area. Orange County residents will have their first chance to buy the disc when Haynes celebrates its release Sunday with a performance at the Bob Burns Restaurant at Fashion Island Newport Beach. A Los Angeles release party was held Thursday at the Club Brasserie in West Hollywood’s Bel Age Hotel.

* Stephanie Haynes and Dave Mackay appear Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at Bob Burns Restaurant, 881 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 644-2030.