Diane Schuur Makes Her L.A. Club Debut

Don’t call Diane Schuur by her given name. If you do, she will quickly inform you that “Deedles” is the label of choice. And, on Tuesday night at Catalina Bar & Grill, she emphasized the point by wearing a sweater embroidered with “Deedles” in delicate, but unavoidable prominence.

Amazingly, Schuur, who has been a fixture on the jazz scene since the mid-’80s, reports that she has never done a club date in the Southland--despite the fact that she now lives in Orange County.

“New York, Washington, places like that are where I usually make club appearances,” she says. “The only thing I can remember is occasionally sitting in at the old Vine Street Bar & Grill.”

Schuur, 45, is attempting to make up for the long nightclub absence (she has made many concert appearances, of course) with a weeklong run at Catalina supporting her new Atlantic album, “Music Is My Life.” The gig is a dramatic contrast to her large venue appearances, in which her familiar--and often criticized--tendency to belt out tunes, often with high-note screeching, was the dominant element.

This week’s performances are showcasing Schuur, who was blinded at birth in a hospital accident, in an intimate trio setting that features her piano and synthesizer playing, accompanied only by bass and drums.

“I love accompanying myself,” she says. “It sets me free, lets me do all the variations I want to do spontaneously--like playing a piano line along with my singing.”

Which is exactly what Schuur emphasized in her Tuesday-night opening set. In the up-tempo numbers, she frequently scatted along with roving, chromatically based melodies, intermittently moving up into the dangerous screech range. But in the slower ballads, the intimacy of the setting finally paid off, as she played quietly supportive harmonies and sang with the rich, dark sound that is her most appealing quality.

“I’m happy for all the large orchestral things I’ve done over the years,” she says. “But this is the way I really love to work, getting inside a song, interacting with the musicians, and just having fun with the music. It’s really cool.”

* The Diane Schuur Trio at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday. 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (213) 466-2210. $30 cover tonight and Saturday at 8:30 p.m., $27 at 10:30 p.m.; $30 Sunday at 7 p.m., $27 at 9 p.m. Two-drink minimum.

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Riffs: Jazz radio station KLON-FM (88.1) will begin airing a series of five-minute modules dedicated to Duke Ellington on April 5. The 60 modules, hosted by Stanley Crouch and Nat Hentoff, will run on a rotating basis, three times a day, at 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. . . . Ruben Estrada of the Estrada Brothers Latin Jazz Sextet is suffering from kidney disease, has no medical insurance and is facing large medical bills for his ongoing treatment. Friends and fellow musicians have organized a concert to help offset his expenses. The lineup for the program features the Estrada Brothers, Poncho Sanchez and others, and takes place March 21 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way, Oxnard. Ticket prices range from $12.50 to $50. Information: (805) 655-0025.

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Passings: Pianist Jaki Byard, 76, who was found shot to death in his apartment in Queens, N.Y., on Feb. 14, was an immensely gifted jazz artist. Yet, despite his far-ranging skills, despite his encyclopedic knowledge of, and capacity to move freely through, the history of jazz, he never received the accolades his talent deserved. Highly active in the ‘60s, he performed with Eric Dolphy, Don Ellis, Charles Mingus and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, among others. In succeeding decades, he led several fine big bands and was active as an educator. The circumstances surrounding his death are still under investigation.

Brooklyn-born singer Trudy Desmond, who spent a good portion of her career in Canada, died of cancer Feb. 19 in Toronto. She had battled the disease since the late ‘80s while managing to release four first-rate jazz CDs. Desmond, who steadfastly refused to give her age, sang with maturity and wisdom, her warm sound countered by a relaxed, seemingly effortless capacity to swing.

Jazz journalist-critic Stanley Dance was one of the earliest jazz commentators, writing for the French journal Jazz Hot in 1935. Although he was musically untrained, his close acquaintance with Duke Ellington and others resulted in a series of insightful interviews and an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for his 1978 book, “Duke Ellington in Person: An Intimate Memoir.” Dance died of pneumonia Feb. 23 in Vista; he was 86.