THE 'COOL' IN COOLIDGE POP CHANTEUSE SHOWS HER JAZZY SIDE.

Byline: Paul Andersen Correspondent

For more than 30 years now, Rita Coolidge's voice has been indelibly stamped across a wide spectrum of pop music. Both as a back-up singer and as a solo performer, her pure, clear vocals have either embellished or been the focus of innumerable tunes that have become pop standards.

But this weekend, another side of this legendary artist will be on display, three flights up on the terrace of the Museum of California Art in Pasadena, where she will perform tonight and Saturday night as part of the summer concert series presented by the Pasadena Jazz Institute.

But if you think that Coolidge is just another in a long string of pop artists who have decided, for whatever reason, to dabble in the standards that make up the Great American Songbook, you would be quite mistaken. As she shows on the just-released ``And So Is Love,'' an album consisting of 11 standards and a smoky remake of one of her signature songs, the Boz Scaggs-penned ``We're All Alone,'' Coolidge not only has the voice for jazz, she also has that innate sense of where to leave the spaces unfilled that separates real jazz vocalists from the rest of the pack.

``I've always loved this style of music, and these are songs that I've loved all my life. Singing them is as easy as breathing,'' Coolidge admitted over the phone from her Fallbrook home, with a soft Tennessee drawl still showing her Nashville roots.

``In fact, back in the mid-'70s, I did an album with jazz pianist Barbara Carroll, 'Out of the Blues,' that was all tunes like this. But the record company wouldn't release it at the time (it finally came out in 1996). They didn't feel it was commercial enough, or pop enough.

``I can remember one night Willie Nelson and Booker T. Jones were up at my house, and they listened to this (unreleased) record. Willie said, 'Well, if they won't let you do it, maybe I can try something like it.' ''

Not long after, Jones produced ``Stardust,'' an album that became a landmark record in both Nelson's career and pop history, as a genre- crossing array of artists still continue to try their hand at tackling the standards. Rod Stewart, Aaron Neville, Linda Ronstadt and Scaggs are among the many vocalists who have been attracted by the strong pull that the music of composers like George Gershwin and Irving Berlin still has. And in many ways, it can be traced back to Coolidge.

``No, I don't feel like a pioneer,'' she said with an almost audible blush. ``That album was a pretty casual affair, just girlfriends getting together in the studio. However, I do wish that people (at the record company) would've listened to me (at the time). In fact, for the next 15 years, every label that I was associated with told me no.

``But dreams do come true. In many ways, this feels like my first record; everything feels the same way as when I did my first album for Herb (Alpert at A&M). And being with Concord Jazz now, it is like revisiting the family ways that we had at A&M. Finding them has been a real blessing.

Music has been a constant presence in Coolidge's life. Her father was a Baptist minister, and it wasn't long before she was singing in his church choir. But when she went off to college at Florida State University, her major was art.

After graduation, she decided to give music one last shot before settling into a career as an art teacher. Moving to Memphis, it wasn't long before she and her sister, Priscilla, were singing background vocals with a variety of local artists, as well as doing commercial jingle work.

Eventually, she joined up with a husband-and-wife duo, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, and relocated to Los Angeles to record with them. She soon was working with the likes of Eric Clapton and Leon Russell, the latter inviting Coolidge to become part of the band he was putting together for Joe Cocker's ``Mad Dogs and Englishmen'' road show. The tour would go on to be immortalized by a movie of the same name, and Coolidge's solo spot in the show, on a song she co-wrote, ``Superstar,'' later a huge hit for the Carpenters, eventually landed her a solo contract with A&M Records. Over the next 10 years, she would have numerous Top 10 hits for the label, including ``Higher and Higher,'' ``All Time High'' and ``We're All Alone.''

Coolidge also won a pair of Grammy Awards with her then-husband, Kris Kristofferson, for two albums they recorded as a duo. But the couple eventually divorced and, by the mid-'80s, Coolidge left the music industry altogether after parting ways with A&M.

``I took some time off to learn how to sing, basically,'' she said. ``I had started as a recording artist, and here I was without a contract, not knowing what I was going to do. But Sammy Davis Jr. told me, 'Hone your craft - you're a singer, you don't need a label to have a career.' And that is exactly what I did.''

She eventually returned to recording and, together with sister Priscilla and niece Laura Satterfield, formed a trio, Walela, that explored her American Indian roots (Coolidge is part Cherokee). The group has been credited with helping to shine the light on the burgeoning American Indian music scene.

Now, she is once again exploring a music that has long been embedded in her. ``My hero has always been Peggy Lee,'' she said. ``There was a tenaciousness in her music. She'd do jazz, blues, Latin, big band, pop - she wouldn't allow herself to be boxed in. So I don't see any reason at all not to do this.''

RITA COOLIDGE

Where: Jazz on the Terrace, Pasadena Museum of California Art, 490 E. Union St., Pasadena.

When: 8 p.m. today and Saturday.

Tickets: $35. Call [phone] or online at www.pasjazz.org; www.ritacoolidge.com.

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``My hero has always been Peggy Lee. ... She wouldn't allow herself to be boxed in. So I don't see any reason at all not to do this.''

- Rita Coolidge