Maria Muldaur

The Ojai Birth Resource Family Center is inviting everyone to its festival and fund-raiser Saturday at Libbey Park in Ojai. The main attraction will be a performance by Maria Muldaur, a blues singer deluxe--and a purveyor of children's music. Gates will open at 1 p.m. with the activities beginning an hour later at the spacious park donated years ago by Edward Drummond Libbey.

Kate McGarrigle, the Canadian singer and songwriter who, with her sister Anna, recorded a string of critically acclaimed albums of literate and wistfully romantic homespun songs and then became the proud matriarch of an extended folk-rock-pop musical family, died Monday after battling cancer in recent years. She was 63. McGarrigle died at her home in Montreal surrounded by Anna and their older sister, Jane, as well as Kate's children, singer-songwriters Rufus and Martha Wainwright.

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.

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.

To the casual pop music observer, Maria Muldaur means "Midnight at the Oasis," the singer's sultry, million-selling hit from 1974. But reaching the pop charts was really a fluke for Muldaur, whose career more closely resembles an odyssey through the rich terrain of American roots music, including jazz, R&B, jug band, gospel, country blues and electric blues. Still, keeping track of her musical side trips over the years can be quite dizzying.

When you hear the tone, it will be 13 years past "Midnight at the Oasis." The time that has passed since Maria Muldaur's big hit has not wrought any significant changes in her, as she revealed Wednesday at the Vine St. Bar & Grill. Muldaur came to the attention of the jazz world as something of a maverick: A pop, rock and jug band-skiffle singer who, with the right background, could bring authenticity to the works of Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael and Don Redman.

The quality and quantity of jazz-influenced female vocalists seems to be improving by the month. Following are some of the more interesting items among dozens received in recent weeks: "HOW DO YOU KEEP THE MUSIC PLAYING?" Susannah McCorkle. Pausa 7195. This intelligent, richly rewarding set of a dozen interpretations will appeal to everyone concerned with the classic American popular song tradition. McCorkle's tone, phrasing and sensitivity match her taste in songs.

Kate McGarrigle, the Canadian singer and songwriter who, with her sister Anna, recorded a string of critically acclaimed albums of literate and wistfully romantic homespun songs and then became the proud matriarch of an extended folk-rock-pop musical family, died Monday after battling cancer in recent years. She was 63. McGarrigle died at her home in Montreal surrounded by Anna and their older sister, Jane, as well as Kate's children, singer-songwriters Rufus and Martha Wainwright.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, "No More Shall We Part." Les Claypool's Frog Brigade, "Live Frogs--Set 1." Elvis Costello and Anne Sofie von Otter, "For the Stars." Ani DiFranco, "Revelling/Reckoning." Guttermouth, "Covered With Ants." Minibar, "Road Movies." Mojave 3, "Out of Tune." Monster Magnet, "God Says No." Maria Muldaur, "Richland Woman Blues." Nebula, "Charged." Glenn Phillips, "Abulum." Red House Painters, "Old Ramon." Shaver, "The Earth Rolls On." Spacehog, "The Hogyssey."

To the casual pop music observer, Maria Muldaur means "Midnight at the Oasis," the singer's sultry, million-selling hit from 1974. But reaching the pop charts was really a fluke for Muldaur, whose career more closely resembles an odyssey through the rich terrain of American roots music, including jazz, R&B, jug band, gospel, country blues and electric blues. Still, keeping track of her musical side trips over the years can be quite dizzying.

The Ojai Birth Resource Family Center is inviting everyone to its festival and fund-raiser Saturday at Libbey Park in Ojai. The main attraction will be a performance by Maria Muldaur, a blues singer deluxe--and a purveyor of children's music. Gates will open at 1 p.m. with the activities beginning an hour later at the spacious park donated years ago by Edward Drummond Libbey.

The quality and quantity of jazz-influenced female vocalists seems to be improving by the month. Following are some of the more interesting items among dozens received in recent weeks: "HOW DO YOU KEEP THE MUSIC PLAYING?" Susannah McCorkle. Pausa 7195. This intelligent, richly rewarding set of a dozen interpretations will appeal to everyone concerned with the classic American popular song tradition. McCorkle's tone, phrasing and sensitivity match her taste in songs.

When you hear the tone, it will be 13 years past "Midnight at the Oasis." The time that has passed since Maria Muldaur's big hit has not wrought any significant changes in her, as she revealed Wednesday at the Vine St. Bar & Grill. Muldaur came to the attention of the jazz world as something of a maverick: A pop, rock and jug band-skiffle singer who, with the right background, could bring authenticity to the works of Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael and Don Redman.

This benefit album for the Rock for Choice organization features 14 female artists of the '90s covering their favorite female-sung hits of the '70s. Some of the reinterpretations are more drastic than others.