It has been more than 20 years since Brazilian singer Kenia first rode the crest of "The Wave" smooth-jazz radio phenomenon to international success with her album "Initial Thrill." It has been more than 10 since her last (and much less heard) CD, "The Ivan Lins Project," devoted to one of Brazil's greatest songwriters.

Kenia -- whose accomplishments also include singing backup on James Taylor's "Only a Dream in Rio" -- has long been a local fixture (a laughing, grooving-to-the-beat, getting-everyone-up-out-of-their-seats fixture, that is). Now she's attempting to raise her profile again beyond Pittsburgh, and she has gone to the top to make her latest CD.

Cesar Carmargo Mariano has been producing, arranging and playing keyboards on hits by a seemingly endless array of Brazil's top singers and songwriters for decades -- Elis Regina, Joao Bosco and Antonio Carlos Jobim among them, as well as Brazilian-inspired musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma.

"I had met Cesar many years ago on a project that he did for [alto saxophonist] Sadao Watanabe," Kenia says. "We were commissioned to do the music for the Kirin World Cup, which is a soccer thing in Japan. We sang it all in Japanese. "

The new CD, "Simply Kenia," offers vibrant post-bossa nova Brazilian pop, a few older styles such as choro, and even a bossa version of Patsy Cline's "Crazy." Kenia will perform tunes from the CD with a band that features Brazilian pianist Helio Alves Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Backstage Bar Downtown.

The daughter of a treasurer for the Bank of Brazil, Kenia grew up in the Copacabana section of Rio and across the bay in Niteroi. She first traveled to the United States in 1975 as an exchange student, graduating from high school in Bolton, Mass.

From 1964-85, a military dictatorship ruled Brazil. When Kenia returned in 1980 to work as a bilingual secretary, she found that a taste of democracy had made it harder to live in her native land. Not only that, but she wanted to sing. And she knew that would be a problem.

"I used to sing in church because that was the only place my dad would allow us to sing. And we all took piano lessons. I am the baby of five girls. So proper girls need to have a proper education. And actually I was a lot more interested in hanging out with the guys and playing ball.

"My dad's favorite band was Glenn Miller. And I used to dance with my feet on top of his, so he would teach me how to dance. And Frank Sinatra, he was crazy about Frank. But in terms of career, there was not even a chance that I would pursue a career as a singer with my dad."

Kenia's epiphany came when her older sister married a musician and they asked Kenia to lay down some guide vocal tracks for jingles. "I said, 'Man, I can live doing that!' I couldn't have dared to do that under my dad's watch. So I kind of threw him a little white lie that I was coming [to the United States] to study."

She moved to Manhattan in 1980. That's where she briefly met trombonist/percussionist Jay Ashby, who toured for years with Astrud Gilberto, of "Girl From Ipanema" fame. Kenia moved to L.A. in '87, where she met Ashby again and they became musical -- and romantic -- partners, eventually marrying. It was an exciting time, Ashby remembers.

"That was the beginning of smooth jazz. She was one of the first artists. In fact, she kind of helped launch that whole KWAV [KWAV-FM, also known as The Wave] format," he says.

"She had her own voice. She had a unique timbre and texture to her voice, kind of an exotic energy, color to her voice. But I guess what always attracted me the most was her sense of rhythm. She really can swing."

Consider Kenia's wordless singing, which American jazz singers call "scat."

"I am not exactly schooled in scat," she says. "For instance, I don't know harmony that well. So for me, it's mostly like a rhythm thing. Because I dig that. And we always do it to samba. The words that we use -- batucada. Listen to that. Batucada, batucada, batucada, batucada! You know that's already, oh, man, so rhythmic."

Eventually Kenia and Jay Ashby moved back to New York and then to Pittsburgh, where Marty Ashby, Jay's brother, directs the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild's jazz program. Jay has helped produce and arrange some of the Guild's Grammy-winning jazz CDs. He also tours with Paul Simon.

The couple divorced in 1996, shortly before they recorded "The Ivan Lins Project." Kenia now lives in Fox Chapel. On the new CD, both Jay Ashby and the couple's 17-year-old son. Lucas -- a budding cellist, drummer and percussionist at North Allegheny High School -- play percussion.

Mariano is another Brazilian ex-pat who has lived in the States since 1994. As to why she called on him after so many years, it's no mystery.

"When I started brewing the idea of doing this CD, I said, 'I am not a new artist, I am not a young artist, and I have been away for a long time. Got to do it with the best.' "