When singer Andrea Baker joins the band, she steps away from the spotlight

Some jazz artists are known as singers’ singers, others as musicians’ musicians -- direct acknowledgments of the high quality of their professional abilities. Andrea Baker, in an unusual variation on the label, might best be described as a musician’s singer.

In her performance at Spazio in Sherman Oaks on Friday night, she functioned, for the most part, as another member of her accompanying ensemble, tailoring almost every vocal as an integral part of the instrumental mix.

The upside of that approach was an entertaining group of numbers in which she worked hand in glove with her musicians -- pianist Ed Czach, bassist Jeff D’Angelo and drummer Dick Weller -- scatting rhythmically through up-tempo numbers such as “Centerpiece” and delivering smooth-toned ballads such as “Prelude to a Kiss,” with a subtle understanding of their harmonic underpinnings.

The downside of this sort of member-of-the-band posture for a singer is that it tends to diminish the impact of the vocal presentation. And Baker further lessened her own presence by encouraging long, extended solos from the trio and, worse, occasionally facing the musicians rather than her audience in some of the livelier improvisational passages.

Baker, a jazz educator who leads a large ensemble at Pasadena City College, clearly possesses first-rate skills and a knowledge of music. And it’s not surprising that she would choose to exercise those qualities in such intimate proximity with instrumentalists.

But if she plans to move into a standout position as a vocalist -- a goal well within her reach -- she’ll have to find a way to spend more solo time in the spotlight.