Jazzing It Up

Singer Rowanne Mark was primed to love jazz: Her dad was a major fan of such artists as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong. “Until my younger sister got a Beatles record, jazz was the only music allowed in the house,” Mark said. “You could hear the records blaring down the street every day.”

Mark appears tonight with pianist Marty Harris at Ca’ del Sole. She’s a slim, striking woman who stands just 5 feet tall. But she can pull a lot of energy out of her small frame, and she makes her music come alive. Jazz remains her metier, though tonight she’ll focus on standards and Brazilian numbers, done with a jazz flavor.

The singer was born in San Diego, lives in Long Beach and has worked mainly, and steadily, in Orange County. She said that in her pursuit of jazz she has had several good teachers. The first was drummer Norm Scuddy, whom she met in San Diego. “He told me, ‘Listen to [drummer] Elvin Jones’ time, listen to Bill Evans,’ ” Mark said, “He explained that you don’t have to hear every beat, that the time can be implied.”

Then there was a onetime session with pianist Buddy Motsinger in the mid-’70s. Motsinger, who was a former accompanist to Billie Holiday, gave Mark sage advice: Less is more. “He told me to leave spaces, like what was so important, so golden about every note,” said Mark. “I have been working on that for 20 years.”

From 1980 to ‘92, Mark was married to pianist Marshall Otwell, who was Carmen McRae’s pianist for many years and who also accompanied, and taught, his wife. “From him, I learned about timing, feeling, focus, groove, listening and interacting,” she said.

Mark and pianist Harris haven’t worked together before. But like Otwell, Harris is a swinging pianist, with whom Mark should have a fine rapport.

Mark mixes performances with a 12-year part-time teaching post at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, instructing in both jazz and pop vocals. But soon she’ll be a student herself--she’s beginning a course of classical vocal study at Cal State Long Beach.

With a career that began in San Diego in the ‘70s, Mark, like many vocalists, first sang pop music. That was when she was 21. Then she got a job at a jazz club called the Art Colony. She heard the the music of John Coltrane and Bill Evans and her response was immediate: “Oh, wow, this is it.”

A good night--when music, musicians and audience all seem to click--brings out a similar reaction. “You have this joy,” she said. “It’s like going to mom’s, and all the favorite family is there. It’s a loving thing.”

Hanging Tough: Pianist Don Randi has long loved jazz--and pop too. In his case, though, pop means rock, as in Cher, the Shirelles, and other Phil Spector-produced acts from the ‘50s and ‘60s. Randi played piano for those and others when he was an active studio musician and part of Spector’s renowned Wall of Sound. These days, the durable Randi is mostly seen on weekends at the Baked Potato in North Hollywood. He’s now sole owner of the club he helped found in 1968. (It’s the oldest jazz club in Los Angeles.) He appears at the room Friday through Sunday, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. (3787 Cahuenga Blvd., North Hollywood; $10 cover, two-drink minimum; [818] 980-1615). Given his background, it’s no surprise that his offerings sometimes have a rock-based feel.

BE THERE

Rowanne Mark performs Thur., 7-11 p.m., at Ca’ del Sole, 4100 N. Cahuenga Blvd., North Hollywood. No cover, no minimum. (818) 985-4669.