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Anna de Leon's life reads like a book proposal. She has two degrees in art and a law degree. She's been a social activist and a school board president. She was married to blues musician Taj Mahal and just became a Jeep-driving grandma.
Anna's only child, daughter Aya, teaches poetry at UC Berkeley. Anna has owned three night clubs, the third of which is Anna's Jazz Island at 2120 Allston Way in Berkeley, where she will be singing New Year's Eve.
"What I love most is having a supportive environment for musicians," she said of her operating philosophy. "It's a listening venue for local musicians and not a club where you pick up dates at the bar. We would make a lot more money if I welcomed that."
That is Anna's weakness — she's not pushy. For instance, her cover charge, which ranges, affordably, from $5 to $15, includes a one-drink minimum per show, even when she's booked nationally known musicians at the jazz bistro.
"Most clubs have a two-drink minimum," she said, "but I don't want to force liquor down people's throats."
Or force jazz into their heads seven nights a week. The club is closed most Mondays, and Jazz Island reopens Tuesday after being closed over Christmas. She has open mic Tuesdays for aspiring singers, and all because she has a "particular love" for vocalists more than money.
"Music is just the way I interpret the world," she said. "I always think of music as kind of
Music has had the longest impact on her life, even though there have been other influences. Her father played the piano, and her mother sang in church. Anna sang her first solo, "Springtime in the Rockies," during a community sing when she was 6 and living in a housing project in Los Angeles.
Her father died when she was 12. By that time, she could play the harmonica. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in art and sculpture at UCLA. She attended UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law and served two terms on the Berkeley School Board. But it always came back to singing.
"For me, singing is like talking," she said. "But in the states, it's unusual to have a law degree and to care about culture."
She sings jazz, but loves all forms of music, from country to classical. Recently, she's listening to R&B legend Fats Domino, which shows she has exquisite taste in music.
And her New Year's Eve shows, at 8 and 10 p.m., exude taste. They feature female vocalists Robin Gregory and Anna, plus 80-year-old crooning phenomenon and former drug addict Ed Reed, with Dee Spencer on piano, Erich Hunt on bass and Jimmy Robinson on drums, all for $30. For reservations, phone 510-845-5515.
Anna wanted a "quieter, mellower" New Year's Eve this time, so she dispensed with the usual Afro-Cuban big-band sound. Her club, which seats 91, also offers food ordered from Cancun, a Mexican restaurant next door.
Anna's an avid reader, she is learning to play the piano, and she would like to write. Her own story might be her breakthrough. She's been married several times, but the one she's most asked about is groom No. 1, Taj Mahal, Aya's father.
"He sang at my opening here in 2005 and on one of my albums," she said. "We've remained very good friends. He thinks my daughter is gorgeous and that I am a good mom. He called this morning and said, 'We done good.' ''
Owning a jazz club is "consuming; that's the one bad thing," she added. "I do the ordering, the staffing, book the musicians, pay the bills and repair the furniture.
"You don't get rich doing this."
But she is wealthy in fulfillment.
Dave Newhouse's columns appear Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, usually on the Metro page. Know any Good Neighbors? Phone 510-208-6466 or e-mail dnewhouse@bayareanewsgroup.com.
