SMOKIN’ NOTES

Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 | 7:38 a.m.

Who: Michael Lington

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Santa Fe Station's Chrome Showroom

Tickets: $19.95 to $29.95; 658-4900

s "A Song for You" (2006)

s "Stay With Me" (2004)

s "Everything Must Change" (2002)

s "Vivid" (2000)

s "Michael Lington" (1997)

Launched in late 2006, Michael Lington Cigars blends Dominican tobaccos with Connecticut seed broadleaf binder in its cigar the Michael Lington Classic.

www.michaellington.com

Danish jazz saxophonist Michael Lington is really smoking these days - mostly his own brand of cigars, Michael Lington Classic and Connoisseur.

"I had a friend who many years ago turned me on to cigars and I really liked it," he said during a recent call from his home in Los Angeles. "Some like wine, and I do , too, but I'm passionate about cigars. About a year ago I was asked to host a party on a jazz cruise, and I made it a cigar party, but I took it a step further and created my own cigar."

His career is smoking as well. Lington recently released "A Song for You," his second album for Rendezvous. He covers diverse artists such as Carole King ("It's Too Late"), Sting ("Fragile"), Joni Mitchell ("Both Sides Now"), Paul Simon ("Still Crazy After All These Years") and Marvin Hamlisch ("Nobody Does It Better").

You can hear Lington on Saturday night at Santa Fe Station's Chrome Showroom. He's part of the lineup of artists performing in the venue's September Jazz Series. On Sept. 29 trumpeter Christian Scott performs. Last week, it was Kyle Eastwood, who's an accomplished bassist as well as a movie maker and jazz aficionado Clint Eastwood's son.

But this week it's Lington, who also has jazz in his blood. His grandfather band leader Otto Lington is credited with introducing jazz to Scandinavia in the 1930s.

"When international artists came to Europe , they called him to back them up," said Michael Lington, 38 .

Otto Lington, who died in 1992, performed with such legends as Shirley Bassey, Josephine Baker, Fats Waller and the Mills Brothers.

"He and I became best friends," Michael Lington said. "I listened to stories of his from the '30s. It was exciting."

He played clarinet when he was a child, but he says listening to great American saxophone players, such as David Sanborn, inspired him to switch instruments. He left Denmark 18 years ago to settle in the United States.

"It's a little hard to explain why," he said. "But I always had a connection with the U.S., even though I had never been here."