Bay Area singer’s unlikely tribute to soul star Sugar Pie DeSanto keeps paying dividends

At first glance, Aireene Espiritu’s tribute to R&B dynamo Sugar Pie DeSanto, the album “Back Where I Belong” (Little Village Foundation), seemed like an unusual departure. The Philippine-born vocalist and guitarist is best known as a folk-leaning singer/songwriter with a deep feel for the blues. She wasn’t generally associated with the kind of scorching soul that made San Francisco-reared DeSanto an ideal opening act for James Brown in the late 1950s.

But Little Village founder Jim Pugh, a veteran blues keyboardist, heard something in Espiritu’s voice that inspired him to bring her the concept, and she made it her own.

Espiritu revisits the acclaimed 2016 album Saturday afternoon at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival with a top-shelf band of bluesmen, including drummer D’Mar (Derrick Martin), bassist Karl Sevareid, guitarist Bob Welsh, keyboardist Julie Wolf and saxophonist Charles McNeal.

Espiritu first saw DeSanto perform about 20 years ago at the Rogue Valley Blues Festival in Oregon and says she was amazed. “She just commanded the stage with this intense energy,” Espiritu recalls. At 83, DeSanto isn’t performing much anymore, which makes Espiritu’s focus on her music all the more welcome.

She was one of the first women in R&B to focus on original material, and Espiritu brings the requisite spirit to DeSanto’s songs.

Details: 1 p.m. July 6, Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco; free; 415-543-1718, www.ybgf.org.