MUSIC : Into Other Realms : Singer Kate McGarry appreciates tradition. But with her flights of improvisation, she adds spirit and imagination.

Kate McGarry offers the best of the past and present--and maybe the future--of jazz singing.

The 31-year-old native of Hyannis, Mass., possesses a grounded awareness of the great jazz vocal tradition exemplified by such artists as Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Betty Carter. She couples this fond knowledge with an unrestrained improvisational sense that leads to forward-thinking interpretations that are as provocative and listenable as they are unique.

Take McGarry’s version of “Dearly Beloved,” from her fine debut CD, “Easy to Love” on VTL Records. Working at a sprightly up-tempo with crackling support delivered by the first-rate drummer Paul Kreibich, she states the melody of the durable Jerome Kern evergreen in a swinging approach that honors the way Kern wrote the song.

But in her second chorus, McGarry cuts loose, singing the same words, only squeezing some of them into smaller spaces than the composer intended, or dropping some, offering phrases that have a hard-edged chop. Then come solos by McGarry’s band, and a fairly straightforward take on the melody sends the tune home.

McGarry employs a similar style on other tunes on the recording, released in 1992. She says this is the way she prefers to work, and she thinks it’s what a lot of listeners want.

“People want music to expand them,” she says, spreading her arms wide, her blues eyes flashing. “I think you should always give a good reading of the melody. But then, if you have something to say, come at the song from a different angle, get a little more personal with it, though don’t go crazy.”

The singer appears Saturday at the Room Upstairs at Le Cafe, where she’ll lead her quartet, featuring Karen Hammick (piano), Bob Maize (bass) and Kreibich. She says that a good deal of the openness in her renditions comes from performing with such like-minded musicians as Hammick and Kreibich, with whom she’s played for four years.

“By finding musicians with whom you have a similar sensibility and then developing a relationship that spans time, you have access to different parts of yourself while you are performing the music,” says McGarry, a resident of Santa Monica.

“You go into the zone where things are really happening, where the music becomes immediate, is less mundane,” she says, rapidly snapping her left wrist as if playing a drumbeat. “That’s what people go to music for, to enter other realms. Call it spirit, imagination. That’s what improvisation is at its best, when you’re accessing a part of yourself that’s very deep, and of which you can’t quite be sure, thank God.”

McGarry’s flavorful versions of classic standards and such jazz classics as “Parker’s Mood” and “Yardbird Suite” are often outfitted with a delightful swinging feel. “Swinging is a high art,” says McGarry. “It’s something beautiful that is laid out, like a wonderful red carpet to walk on.”

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The singer has attracted plenty of fans since she moved to Southern California in 1987 to focus on her singing. One is Stephanie Haynes, arguably the area’s finest jazz singer. “I think Kate’s great,” says Haynes. “She has the kind of improvisational style I relate to. Her work is well-grounded in musical reality.”

Born into a family where singing was seen as family entertainment, McGarry always wanted to be a professional. She first worked while in college at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In Southern California, she has performed at Le Cafe, Lunaria in Los Angeles, the Club Brasserie in West Hollywood and Bistro L’Ecluse (formerly Inn Arty’s) in Pasadena. The vocalist says that singing, at its best, gives her a chance to touch others.

“There’s something about collecting other people’s hearts for a short span of time that I like to do,” she says. “There’s so much coming in from the people, their feelings, yearnings, emotions--it’s all really subtle. But if people are listening, then you give these emotions voice, along with your own stuff. It’s very definitely a strong exchange between the so-called performer and the so-called listener.”

Where and When

Who: Kate McGarry’s quartet.

Location: The Room Upstairs at Le Cafe, 14633 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

Hours: 9 and 11 tonight.

Price: $8 cover, two-drink minimum.

Call: (818) 986-2662.