DENNIS ODA / DODA@STAR-BULLETIN.COM Jazz singer Keahi Conjugacion will be performing one of two farewell shows at the Honolulu Club lounge.

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Jazz singer bids aloha

You'll have to excuse jazz singer Keahi Conjugacion if she seems a little distracted nowadays.

Keahi Conjugacion » 6 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the Honolulu Club Lounge, 7th floor, 932 Ward Ave., with David Choy, Dan Del Negro, John Kolivas, Robert Shinoda and, guesting from Karrin Allyson's band, Todd Street. $5 cover. Call 543-3918 » 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Ward Rafters, 3810 Maunaloa Ave., with the Honolulu Jazz Quartet and special guests Gabe Baltazar, Buddy Fo, David Yamasaki and others. Call 734-0397.

First, she'll be saying aloha -- for now -- with her inimitable voice early tomorrow evening at the Honolulu Club Lounge, and finally at jazz patron Jackie Ward's place for a farewell bash, where the then-demure singer made her return to the islands from Seattle, under the former name of Keahi Matsui.

It's been a long haul since starting professionally here, just this side of being of legal adult age, singing Carole King songs and other pop ballads of the day.

The older sister of brothers-musicians Tony and Noland, the revitalized 49-year-old will leave at the end of the month for New York City. While Conjugacion will do her best to continue to promote her Hula Records album, "Jazz Hawaiian Style," released last July, her latest mainland venture promises to expose her to a larger audience.

It was 12 years ago that she first moved to the Pacific Northwest for a short while, to strengthen the jazz chops she was developing in Hawaii.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STAR-BULLETIN.COM Listeners will also be able to view oil paintings by Lena Larkin, which are on display in the lounge where Keahi Conjugacion will perform.

"Five-10 years ago, I couldn't have done this move," Conjugacion said Friday afternoon at the club lounge. "Now, I'm so ready and confident, especially after going to New York in November to see what kind of response I would get."

After completing her obligations on the Hawaii's Legends concert bill at Carnegie Hall and with the New York-Hawaii Cultural Foundation for the first part of the trip, Conjugacion headed up to Harlem to try her luck at legendary jazz clubs such as St. Nicholas Pub and the Lenox Lounge.

"The first night I did was an open mic night, and when I did my Dinah Washington number, I got a standing ovation, did an encore, and returned later that evening to do two more songs," she said.

During the course of her heady trip, she met several people who are helping her with this important transition. One is Norman Connors, who oversaw the career of the late Phyllis Hyman, who influenced Conjugacion's vocal style. He will work with Conjugacion on a Hyman tribute album, singing songs meant for Hyman before she died in 1995, a suicide.

Another is producer and bassist extraordinaire Stanley Clarke, who will team up Conjugacion with a female smooth jazz trio to be called Contessa.

Conjugacion said she's scheduled for a Pacific Northwest tour in March, "and later a world tour, opening people like Clarke and his band with George Duke, Bela Fleck, and Jean-Luc Ponty.

"My head is really spinning now," she said. "All this happened through my connection with Sunnie Paxson, a smooth jazz pianist from Los Angeles who'll be in Contessa with me, and her uncle Fred Frank, who was a producer for Hyman. It was always my dream to do a tribute to Hyman ... and now I'm honored to be part of this project."

Conjugacion says she'll be back in April for the Hawaii International Jazz Festival and the Hawaii Music Awards, and that she'll keep her local roots in mind while away from home.

"I'll do my best and represent Hawaii. This is just a great opportunity to be this local girl working in New York. I mean to learn all I can and come back and share what I've learned."