Muldaur steps into new territory

In the three decades since Maria Muldaur’s pop breakthrough with the hit single “Midnight at the Oasis,” the singer has happily dipped into everything from the blues and R&B; to Cajun rhythms and musical theater. Her performance Thursday at Catalina Bar & Grill focused on yet another area of Muldaur’s musical interests: jazz in general, and the music of Peggy Lee in particular. The association would seem to have validity. Lee, like Muldaur, had significant pop-music roots.

But Lee, who got her start in the early ‘40s with Benny Goodman’s orchestra, came from a period when jazz, swing music and pop were, if not synonymous, at least very much on the same wavelength.

Muldaur’s early jazz connections were virtually nil, her pre-”Midnight” career devoted to folk-music endeavors, primarily via gigs with the Even Dozen Jug Band and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band.

The differences were apparent throughout her set.

Singing such Lee classics as “Fever,” “I Don’t Know Enough About You” and “I’m Gonna Go Fishing” in a dark-toned voice very different from her youthful soprano, Muldaur simply delivered the songs, with no particular jazz emphasis or emotional impact, and more than a few uncertain musical passages.

Despite briskly swinging accompaniment from pianist Tom Garvin, bassist Richard Simon and drummer Steve Houghton, Muldaur’s best moments came, not with the Lee songs, but with an updated rendering of “Midnight at the Oasis.”

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Maria Muldaur

Where: Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood

When: Tonight, 8:30 and 10:30; Sunday, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Price: $18-$20, with two-drink minimum

Contact: (323) 466-2210