Last modified: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 1:40 PM EST Amanda Carr plays Steve's Backstage Pass on March 16. (Submitted) GO: Carr a driving force in the jazz world BY RICK FOSTER STAFF WRITER "My mom, Nancy Carr, was a big band singer and my dad, Nick Capezuto, a trumpet player, but I didn't fully appreciate that music at the time," said Carr, whose early influences were the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and who began her professional career singing songs by James Taylor and Carly Simon. But all that changed for the Boston-based singer when she returned from a sojourn in Los Angeles in the '90s to find herself in demand doing fill-ins at gigs for her mother. She even changed her name to Carr to more closely identify with her mother's jazz heritage. "It was then that I began to realize, 'hey, this music is really cool,'" said Carr who has not only come into her own as a jazz singer in the last few years but received wide critical acclaim. Her last two CDs, "Tender Trap" and "Soon," quickly climbed the jazz charts. International recognition followed with a headlining performance at the EuroJazz festival in Italy. Recently, she was named one of the top three vocalists in Brazil, despite the fact she has so far released only one track in Portuguese. Carr, now a composer of original music for TV as well as a national touring musician, will appear 7 p.m. Sunday, March 16 at Steve's Backstage Pass, 15 School St., where she will headline the Sunday Night Jazz series. Admission is $10. The appearance is part of the music club's second anniversary celebration. The much-traveled Boston vocalist says she's not surprised by the enduring popularity of classic songs from the Jazz Era because of their lyrical appeal and the public's hunger for a return to melody after decades dominated by amplification and hip hop. "I think things have finally come full circle," she said. Endowed with a charming stage presence as well as killer pipes, Carr is as engaging and at home in a cabaret setting as she is in the concert hall. Among her many performances, Carr is currently starring in "A Tribute to Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman" with the Everett Longstreth Orchestra, traveling to various states and cities nationwide with a scheduled U.S. tour in 2008-09. Amanda frequently is the featured vocalist with the Artie Shaw Orchestra and Harry James Band, and has also appeared with the Glenn Miller Band. Carr has composed and performed award-winning music for two PBS documentaries, receiving an Emmy nomination for "The Story of Golf," narrated by Jim McKay, and recognition for her contributions to "Boston Red Sox: 100 Years of Baseball History." In 1999 she received the Videographer Award by the NTA for excellence in music composition in addition to three Telly Awards. She has dozens of TV and radio commercials to her credit and owns and operates a successful recording studio in the Boston area. RICK FOSTER can be reached at 508-236-0360 or at rfoster@thesunchronicle.com. Among her own recordings, her eclectic album credits include composing and performing with the late great Dave Guard from the Kingston Trio on his final album "Up & In" and a featured guest on the Old Vienna Kaufeehaus' album featuring New England's best folk singer/songwriters. With the acclaimed producer/drummer Kenny Hadley at the helm, Carr released "SOON" in August 2007 featuring John Wilkins, Bronek Suchanek and Arnie Krakowsky. The CD made it to number 32 on Amazon.com and a best seller on ITunes, CDBABY and other global music sites. An international tour to support the disc is in the planning stages.