Jazz singer Lorraine Feather is a keen observer of everyday

The jazz singer Lorraine Feather lives on one of the San Juan Islands with her husband, the drummer Tony Morales. Their property is fenced, with a view of water and enough room for their dogs to roam freely.

The roof is covered with moss, agreeing nicely with the vision of life the couple created a few years ago when they sold their home in California and moved north.

"It is very P-N-W," she said, adding the moss will soon be cleared away.

The woods, the moss, its beauty, the destruction it causes, the decision to remove it. They all might form the components of a song someday, Feather joked, only in part, because her life, her surroundings and her observation of them have always been sources of inspiration.

Her new home is the setting for the song, "How Did We End Up Here?" which she wrote for her husband. It appears on her seventh and newest album, "Ages." Released last week, it's a collection of 11 songs about the various stages of life. Feather, 61, wrote the lyrics to all the songs, composed by musicians who appear on the album, guitarist Eddie Arkin, banjoist Bela Fleck, and pianists Russell Ferrante and Shelly Berg.

Feather, the daughter of the late jazz writer, composer and producer Leonard Feather, said she thinks of herself as a lyricist who sings, a truth that undersells her vocal ability. She has a clear, pleasing, empathetic voice that more than holds up to the musicianship of her band mates. But to simply call her a singer detracts from what truly sets her apart, which is her ability to put into words the small and profound incongruities of life.

On "Ages," she sings about childhood, high school, middle age, friendship, growing old, and all the angst and joy that bind them. Her song titles are often blunt and self-explanatory.

"I Forgot to Have Children" is a funny and poignant reflection on the fact that she never became a mother. "Two Desperate Women in Their Late 30s" is about her best friend and the approach of middle age. "Scrabble" is ostensibly about the game, but also about her relationship with her opponent. (All the lyrics to the songs on "Ages" can be downloaded from Feather's Web site, www.lorrainefeather.com.)

The theme of the album is not coincidental to her recent 60th birthday.

"I did not feel the same scared way about turning 60 that I did about turning 30 or 40," Feather said, "because I realized I was by far the most productive after age 50."

Her childhood was both figuratively and literally an encyclopedia of jazz. She remembers the family's dining table covered with reference material while her father wrote "The Encyclopedia Yearbook of Jazz." (Leonard Feather died in 1994.) Her mother was a big-band singer who once lived with Peggy Lee. Her godmother was Billie Holiday. Duke Ellington and Jon Hendricks were neighbors and friends.

"I certainly heard jazz music constantly growing up," Feather said. "It saturated me."

But for the longest time, she thought she wanted to act. The family moved from Manhattan to Los Angeles in 1960. Feather attended Hollywood High School and studied acting at Los Angeles City College. She moved back to New York to wait tables and catch her big break, which never really came, although she did find some work on Broadway.

Singing was a natural outgrowth of her acting, and she soon found her aptitude and appetite for it exceeded her desire to act. Moreover, she discovered a gift for writing lyrics.

"It came so naturally to me. It's weird that it never presented itself earlier."

Even when she is not thinking about songwriting, she thinks about it.

She recently got a seemingly mundane text message from her husband asking if all the clothes in the washing machine could go in the dryer.

"It sounded like it would make a great song," Feather said. She later reconsidered.

"Sometimes, it only makes a great title."

Hugo Kugiya: hkugiya@yahoo.com