SOUNDS AROUND TOWN : Simple but Soulful : Les McCann brings his blend of R & B and jazz to the intimate setting of Wheeler Hot Springs.

It was Saturday night in Santa Barbara and the weekend ritual was under way. A football game was raging in the City College stadium, replete with floodlights and roaring crowd.

But across Cabrillo Boulevard, on Ledbetter Beach, there was a ritual of another ilk. A huge, undulating crowd was being successfully seduced as only Les McCann can seduce.

McCann’s show was the climax of last year’s Santa Barbara Jazz Festival. The setting was just right, and McCann’s feel-good blend of funk-basted R & B-jazz worked wonders.

The crowd gave thanks for rousing solos by trumpeter Jeff Elliot (local Goletan made good, and the unofficial star of the festival), new kid saxophonist Keith Anderson, and the unexpected timbres from violinist Karen Briggs.

But it was the undeniable presence and rugged charm of McCann, with his roiling piano style and Buddha grin, who drove the groove machine and worked the crowd into a friendly frenzy. McCann is a master at keeping things simple but soulful and avoiding pretentiousness at all costs.

This weekend’s show by McCann at Wheeler Hot Springs is at the other end of the performance spectrum--an intimate setting in which you can see the players sweat.

McCann, who comes from Kentucky, developed a warm style merging jazz and soul during the ‘60s. He won a healthy following of both jazz and non-jazz listeners, drawing sneers from some critics, but enduring.

Last week, at his home in the San Fernando Valley, 56-year-old McCann took a few moments from his painting and tennis to talk about his music and his current band.

“We’re gypsies,” he said. “When we were in Europe, we traveled with everybody in the same vehicle close together, so we saw each other each day. In the case of this band, it brought us close together and the band is at a peak. I see myself enjoying my finest group ever.”

Though it’s not always easy to trace, McCann’s discography begins with his debut in 1960 and includes, by his estimation, 40 albums under his name. On nearly that many, he appears as a sideman or with “people that I’ve discovered and brought to the world.” (His list of discoveries includes Roberta Flack and Lou Rawls.)

McCann’s most recent release is a compilation of tidbits and whatnot--musical, comedic and otherwise--entitled “More of Les.”

It is, he said, “like a documentary record, including some 20-minute stories that you cannot play in front of your children.”

The idea behind the recording came from Night Records, which wanted to present informal tapes, oddities and lesser-known material from well-known musicians. McCann, an obsessive chronicler of his own music and other non-musical encounters in his travels, gave the label 520 tapes to choose from.

“For years, I taped every cab driver in New York I ran into. Everyone has a story, and I’m able to get it out of them. In America, I find that people love to talk anyway. They tell you things that you don’t even ask about. All you’ve got to do is turn the machine on. Now I’m doing the very same thing with the video. I record everybody.”

Interacting with people, personally and onstage, is a high priority for McCann, as is precious time at home.

“I love playing in front of audiences and I definitely love being here at home doing my thing because that can be so much like your diary. I do things that I’m not even able yet to do onstage.”

Playing live has been McCann’s generally acknowledged forte. His best-selling and most critically acclaimed album to date is the collaboration with saxophonist Eddie Harris called “Swiss Movement,” recorded at a live set during the 1969 Montreux Jazz Festival.

For that date, the band, including the obscure trumpeter Benny Bailey, was assembled at the last minute. It kicks off with “Compared to What,” which has been McCann’s signature tune ever since. McCann and Harris returned to Montreux two years ago to record a reunion project.

More recently, McCann points to June 6, 1985, as a turning point in his life. On that day, he said, he visited a psychic friend and had an experience of self-realization.

“That truly was a major opening of the door for me,” McCann said. “I heard a statement from a famous writer: ‘We’re like children all seated in a lighted room with our hands covering our eyes, professing that we’re afraid of the dark.’ That had a lot of meaning for me.”

When all is said and done, McCann’s role in the jazz scene is mostly that of a forefather of fusion and as one of jazz’s consistently engaging entertainers. Like Dizzy Gillespie, McCann cranks up the between-song banter and generates an infectious energy flow with the audience.

“Well, some musicians only want to do it with the music,” McCann said. “I like to be funny. I like to mess with people, shake ‘em up a little bit. So I do outrageous things sometimes. I know who I am, and people who know me wish I would do more outrageous things--like I do at home. They say, ‘What’s wrong with you? You’re so conservative on the bandstand.’

“That’s all I need, to go into my routine. My routine is love, and that’s what I am. I’m a channel of love. I accept my role.”

* WHERE AND WHEN

Les McCann and his group will play at Wheeler Hot Springs at 4 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $20, or $45 for dinner and concert. For information, call 646-8131.