John Kaye reprises family blues with Soul Patch Ltd. at Casbar role with

Saturday, June 3, 2006 | 7:39 a.m.

The legendary Mary Kaye Trio last played in the lounge at the Sahara in the mid-1960s.

Forty years later, her nephew, John Kaye, is following in the family footsteps.

Kaye and his blues group Soul Patch Ltd. will perform at 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Monday at the Casbar Lounge, where the most famed residents were Louis Prima and Keely Smith.

"It's time for a change," said the 52-year-old Kaye, who for years fronted the rock band Overlords. "I figure I'm grown up enough now to do the blues - I'm really just going back to my roots, back to the original format of rock 'n' roll."

Kaye's father is Norman Kaye, who made up the Mary Kaye Trio with Mary Kaye and Frank Ross. They sang the hit song "Kookie Lend Me Your Comb" in the early '60s, when teen idol Eddie "Kookie" Byrnes was on the TV series "77 Sunset Strip."

The trio parted ways in 1966.

John Kaye left the Overlords a few months ago and, along with David Mitchell and Jim Raleigh, founded Soul Patch Ltd.

"We first contemplated doing blues two years ago," Kaye said. "We finally got it together."

He describes the new group as "urban blues with groove."

"We perform an upbeat, edgier kind of music," Kaye said.

The group has been performing at private functions, except for one public appearance at the Casbar on May 22.

"A lot of groups played at the Sahara," Kaye said. "Louis Prima. Mary Kaye Trio. The Goofers. The Characters. The Gaylords. I remember it like it was yesterday."