Etta James Goes Beyond Blues to Jazz, Country

Of late, the real Etta James, the infamous blues belter and master of bump ‘n’ grinding innuendo, has been standing up, facing music beyond the blues. The identity slalom began with last year’s “Mystery Lady, Songs of Billie Holiday,” on the Private label, James’ first bona fide “jazz” album in her 40-year career. This experiment won her widespread accolades and her first Grammy award.

Last spring, she seconded the motion with an even better jazz project, “Time After Time.” Here, she goes both ways, deftly switching between jazzy melodic contours and bluesy riffs on such tunes as “Willow Weep for Me” and the gospel-tinged “Someone to Watch Over Me.”

Of course, the truth is that jazz was never a foreign musical tongue for James, who began her run of R & B hits in the ‘50s, but one of her biggest early singles wasthe jazzy “At Last” in 1961 (which can now be heard in a Jaguar commercial). She maintained a career over the years, though she lost about a decade, from the mid-’60s to early ‘70s, to heroin addiction.

When James shows up at the Ventura Theatre on Friday, expect to see a smorgasbord and a retrospective in one happy package. Of course, the show won’t reflect James’ latest venture--she’s in the middle of finishing her first country album in Nashville. At 58, Etta James is a blues survivor, now busy braving the world beyond the blues.

In an interview, despite being under the weather, “in the flux right now, with the flu swarming around,” James was brimming with energy and hot sauce.

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When you mix blues with jazz in shows now, do you feel like you’re making some converts? Are you exposing blues fans to something else?

I’m showing them something new when it comes to me. Some people like the jazz albums, but the first thing they say to me is, “When are you going to do another album like ‘Stickin’ to My Guns?’ ”

I understand what they’re saying, because jazz is a bit reserved, and I’m not a real reserved kind of person. So I guess they figure we would rather see Etta not being reserved, rather than holding a handkerchief and standing in the spot, looking like a jazzbo.

*

Did you feel more comfortable making “Time After Time,” this being your second go-round with a specifically jazz-oriented project?

I did. With the Billie Holiday project, I was trying to stay so reserved, and I was scared, too, because I hadn’t ever done that kind of a record. I wanted it to be just right. I didn’t want it to be perfect, but I wanted to be right. I tried to be cool, in other words.

With ‘Time After Time,’ it was more fun, because I didn’t have to be as cerebral. I knew those songs, too, because I grew up hearing Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and those kinds of things. When I was a kid, I had my Billie Holiday pile, which was one kind of stuff, and my other stuff was stuff like Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, June Christy, Stan Kenton--because I was a West Coast kid, and that was the West Coast jazz. I thought the King Sisters were hip. But I’ve always had those songs in my mind.

*

Do you have another jazz album in the works?

No, I don’t. I definitely want to do another one, and nothing’s in the works, but any time I want to do it, I can do it.

Right now, I’m working on a country album. I already did the tracks, in Nashville last November. I went to the land of country. Now I’m going to go back next month and put the vocals down. The stuff really sounds great. Country music has the great stories. To me, country music is like the blues, but it’s something very hip and--I don’t want to say commercial--but it’s very worldly and good listening. It’s not really twangy, not really “wang, wang, my cow’s got cholera . . . .” None of that.

*

Between your jazz and country projects, it sounds like you’re busy breaking down stereotypes at this point.

Is that what you call it? People always say “Etta, you know what your problem is? You’re neither fish nor fowl. There is no place to rack you.” When I would go in a record shop, you might find one or two records by me in different stacks.

I went to Tower Records a while back, before I got with Private, and I would look under Rhythm and Blues, Blues and then I’d just be under James. There would be a box on the floor at the end of the rack, and that’s where I’d be. So--breaking down stereotypes, that’s cool, I like that. I’m a renegade.

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Is there something about this point in your life, having gone through personal travails and developing your music, that makes it special, a culmination of your career in a way?

Yeah, I think it is. I’m getting ready to be 58 in a few days, and I’ve been in the business for 41 years. It’s a great time. What really makes it great is that I’m not some young stupid person--I’m stupid, don’t get me wrong--but I’m not this young person who is eager to go for just anything. I’m not so interested in fame.

I’m not starry eyed, and I’m not money crazy. I mean, I like money and I know you have to have it. But I’m at the point where I can pick and choose. I can say, “No, I don’t think I’d like to do that.”

If people can hang around long enough--now that’s the secret, to be there when the smoke settles. If you hang around the candy store long enough, they’ll start giving you things. That’s how I feel.

DETAILS

* WHAT: Etta James.

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday.

* WHERE: Ventura Theatre, 26 S. Chestnut St., Ventura.

* HOW MUCH: $19.50.

*CALL: 648-1888.