Celebrating smooth jazz sound with Maysa

Maysa isn't a name most people instantly recognize, even those who consider themselves reasonably knowledgeable about music. But fans of smooth jazz know the name, and they definitely know her voice.

As the on-again, off-again vocalist for the U.K.-based acid jazz troupe Incognito, Maysa is one of the most recognizable female jazz singers out today - perhaps even rivaling Sade in her cultlike fan appeal.

Maysa lives in Baltimore, where she was born and raised, and it's not just friends and family who stop her in the grocery store to talk.

"All my family is here," she says, peppering her comments with "darlings," "sweethearts" and "thank yous." "It's kind of cool being recognized. I won't be anything at all without my fans."

When Maysa was at Morgan State University, the historically black college in Baltimore, she sang in the school's choir. Stevie Wonder paid a visit one day, and Maysa's career was shoved into overdrive when he picked her to join his female backing group Wonderlove. She toured with him for a while but was determined to finish college.

"I really did that for my parents," she said.

In the early 1990s, Maysa auditioned over the phone to become a part of Incognito, and by 1992 she'd relocated to London to sing with the group. She recorded several albums with it, in the process becoming on par with the A-list names of new jazz including Rick Braun, Will Downing, Jonathan Butler and Pieces of a Dream, all of whom she's worked with.

She released her first, self-titled solo album in 1995 and has since made her buttery, sensual and somewhat husky voice a staple of smooth jazz stations and an attraction at the 50 or 60 intimate performances she does a year. She's at the Jazz Appreciation Month Benefit in Chesapeake on Friday night.

(Worry not, fans: She said everyone always asks her to sing Incognito's "Deep Water," and she won't disappoint.)

She's gearing up to release her eighth album, a live effort. She's done two in the past two years: an album of standard soul covers, "Feel the Fire," and her latest, "Metamorphosis."

Underground artists like Maysa don't often release albums that closely together, perhaps because recording them is expensive, or perhaps because they want to sell as many of one album as possible before putting out another, or perhaps because they're not inspired, or they simply want to remain aloof. Not so with Maysa, and true to her round-the-way roots, she's not shy about telling you why.

"To be quite honest with you, that was a financial thing," she said, laughing a little bit. "I needed the money. That's what I do for a living." She said she'd hoped that by now, hip-hop artists would have sampled her; she also hopes to one day do country. Above all, she hopes to one day be an instantly recognizable name.

There's a good chance: "Metamorphosis" peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's contemporary jazz chart last year and is still on the charts after 23 weeks.

"I do think this album will put me at another level. It won't make me Janet Jackson or nothing, but yeah, another level."

Malcolm Venable, (757) 446-2662, malcolm.venable@pilotonline.com