Pianist Tunes In to Family and Friends : Gregg Karukas’ album is about being ‘Home for the Holidays’ with his loved ones.

For pianist Gregg Karukas, the year-end holiday season has long been focused on two things: family gatherings and taking stock.

“I don’t have that strong a reli gious feeling about Christmas,” said Karukas, 37. “The most important aspect is being with family and friends. And it’s the time when I tend to think back, and measure my life by the quality of my interpersonal relationships.”

Last June, Karukas decided to further document his feelings for the winter festival by recording “Home for the Holidays” on his own Nightowl Records. “The thrust behind the record is about trying to touch, and retouch, the feelings of being with family, or being home” at this time of the year, he said.

The album spotlights singer Shelby Flint, bassist John Leftwich and drummer Joel Taylor delivering a zesty program of seasonal favorites, such as “White Christmas,” “The Christmas Song” and “We Three Kings” (done as a vigorous jazz waltz), and originals such as the title track and Flint’s “Greetings of the Season.” Saturday and Sunday, Karukas, Flint, Leftwich and Taylor will perform the album, and other material, at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks.

“Home for the Holidays” is Karukas’ first completely acoustic album--his four previous releases, including “Summer House,” issued last spring, have all featured some synthesizer work and have been extensively produced.

“This was a chance for me to get back to my acoustic piano roots,” said Karukas from a hotel in Chicago, where he was performing last week. “I haven’t played piano in public that much, but I have spent a lot of time both practicing and listening to acoustic pianists like Ahmad Jamal and Les McCann, two guys I love because they can play pretty, and funky.”

Karukas said he feels a kinship with McCann, and Otis Redding, Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder, artists whose music has often been called “soulful “ or “funky.” He fell in love with their recordings as a kid growing up in Baltimore, where he started piano lessons at the age of 6.

“That music feels like me,” he said. “It gets across. I’m not trying to play music that will impress people. Rather, I’m trying to touch them in an emotional way.”

Karukas’ four previous albums were done in a style that he described as “Melodic R&B; jazz that also includes Brazilian jazz.” Those albums took about two months each to complete; “Home for the Holidays” was done in less than a week last June.

“I did the arrangements two days before the session, and when we recorded, we did it all live, without over-dubs,” Karukas said.

The album was another opportunity for Karukas to work with Flint, a longtime associate with whom he performed just after he moved to Los Angeles in 1982.

“Shelby’s the most creative songwriter I have ever worked with,” Karukas said. “People think of her as having this fantastic voice, but she also has a lot of musical depth.”

Karukas’ career is taking off. He has played with sax man Eric Marienthal, guitarist/composer Dori Caymmi and the Rippingtons, and has traveled to the East and Midwest with his own band once a year. His current tour was topped, he said, by an appearance before a packed house at the S.O.B. nightspot in New York.

“It’s the best feeling in the world to come into a city you’ve never played and have people you’ve never met come up and tell you how much they like your music,” he said.

WHERE AND WHEN

What: Gregg Karukas at the Room Upstairs at Le Cafe, 14633 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

Hours: 9 and 11 p.m. Saturday, 8:30 and 10:15 p.m. Sunday.

Price: $10 cover, two-drink minimum.

Call: (818) 986-2662.