Jill West needs only a few minutes to prove that her band, Blues Attack, is worthy of attention. Even if the audience has never heard of her or her band.

"I tell people all the time when we play out of town, the name Jill West and Blues Attack is not going to bring people into your club," says West, who releases a new CD, "Headline Blues," Saturday at Cefalo's in Carnegie. "But we will keep the people in there who are there. If you have a little bit of a built-in audience, we will keep those people in their seats for at least 90 minutes."

West has one thing wrong: Most likely, those folks won't be in their seats, but on the dance floor. "Headline Blues" features an upbeat, uptempo version of the blues that features one of the area's most unheralded bands: guitarist Gregg Krupa, drummer Nick Crano, bassist Hank Raffetto and Sudden Steve Binsberger on keyboards.

The first three songs on the new record -- "Xtra Xtra," a cover of Lazy Lester Johnson's "Sugar Coated Love" and "Don't Burn the Barbeque" -- are designed, like West's shows, to spark attention.

"People hear 'blues band,' and they think it's funeral dirges all night long," West says. "We consider ourselves a dance blues band. And blues, not as an emotion, but as a formula. The music that we play is formulated in the blues. ... It is more of a positive. It's an uptempo dance music.

"It never fails, anytime we play a gig where we have a significant of number of new people. Someone will say, 'I heard it was a blues band, and I wasn't going to stay. I listened to a few of your tunes, and I stayed all night.'"

"Headline Blues" is the group's first release in seven years. Crano, Krupa and Binsberger were not on the previous release. Binsberger -- who West calls "probably the best keyboard player in all of Pittsburgh" -- isn't even on the new CD.

While the current lineup of Blues Attack plays most dates, West realizes that the other commitments sometimes come into play, and she recruits from a stable of musicians who fill in on the odd shows.

That flexibility hasn't prevented Blues Attack from receiving national attention. The band finished third at the 2006 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. More than 150 groups entered the competition, many of them full-time outfits, prompting Binsberger to say, "We're a part-time band with a full-time sound."

It's also a band that is respected by its peers. Binsberger, who has performed with the Billy Price Band and 8th Street Rox, eagerly accepted an invitation to join Blues Attack. And Krupa, who has fronted the bands Dirty Pool and the Boogie Monsters, became a member at the expense of his own group.

"Greg actually broke up his own band to join us," Raffeto says.

"I couldn't resist," Krupa says, noting that part of the appeal was joining a band that sounds professional all the time.

"I think our originals can stand with other people's covers," Krupa says.

On "Headline Blues," the covers include Dr. John's "How You Carry Me" and "Unchain My Heart" by Bobby Sharp. Along with originals "Needful Things" and "Love Song in C," these songs have been road tested and refined and serve a purpose: getting an audience focused on the music.

"We are not the background music to some conversation," West says. "There's very little conversation going on when Blues Attack is playing, mostly because nobody can hear. If you want to talk, go to another room to talk on the phone. If you want a good, energetic blues attack, come out and see this blues band."

Additional Information:

Jill West and Blues Attack

What: CD release party, with the Rhythm Hawks

When: 9 p.m. Saturday

Admission: Free

Where: Cefalo's , Carnegie

Details: 412-276-6600

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