CHEATHAMS : JAZZ MUSICIANS JAM WITH CHEATHAMS

The roster of jazz musicians who call San Diego home, at least on occasion, is diverse.

Some, like keyboardist Art Resnick and saxophonist Joe Marillo, have established sizable followings through years of playing the nightclub circuit.

Others, like bassist George (Red) Callender and reed player Buddy Collette, are nationally known stars who pass through here on tour and frequently return to vacation.

Still others, like reed player Frank LaMarca and former Count Basie saxophonist Curtis Peagler, are veterans of the Big Band era who came here many years ago to retire.

But sooner or later, they all show up in one place: the Mercedes Room at the Bahia Hotel on Mission Bay, where the first couple of the local jazz scene, Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham, hold their informal Sunday night jam sessions.

Each Sunday from 6 to 10:30 p.m., as many as seven or eight jazz musicians take the stage to play and improvise to their hearts’ content.

There is a blending of styles, a meshing of instrumental abilities and techniques. There are moments of sheer brilliance, of soaring solos and dazzling collaborations. Yet there are also times when experiments fail and the music falls short of the musicians’ expectations.

Throughout the evening, Jimmy Cheatham said, members of the audience--mostly other jazz musicians--may jump in at any time--if they’re not too busy listening and learning, that is.

“The musicians come from all over, either to play or just to exchange ideas, contacts or conversation,” Jimmy Cheatham said. “It’s like a social for the local jazz scene, but it’s also like a school.

“The older musicians can learn what the younger ones are up to, and the younger musicians, in turn, learn from the older ones who have already achieved a name for themselves.”

Cheatham, a bass trombonist who teaches jazz at UC San Diego, and his wife, an accomplished pianist and singer, began the weekly jam session eight years ago at the Sheraton Harbor Island hotel. Three years ago, the musical free-for-alls were moved to the Mercedes Room.

“From the start, we’ve felt that the music should come first, and the whole jazz community should be able to participate,” Jimmy Cheatham said. “So we decided to hold the sessions on Sunday, which is an off-night for most nightclubs and the only day of the week that most musicians aren’t busy working.”

“The concept of a jam session is found all over the country, especially in cities with a strong, healthy jazz scene,” Jeannie Cheatham added. “And it’s really important to bring everyone together once in awhile, in the same room, at the same time, both for the jazz scene in general and for each musician’s personal growth.”

In many ways, the diversity of what goes on at each Sunday night jam session reflects the diversity of both Cheathams’ involvement with jazz.

Jimmy was raised in Buffalo, N.Y., and Jeannie in Akron, Ohio; both got their start in music by singing gospel tunes in Baptist Church choirs.

They met, on stage, in a Buffalo nightclub 30 years ago: Jeannie was with a Canadian jazz quartet passing through town on a one-night stand and Jimmy was a free-lance trombonist hired to play back-up.

After joining their careers--and their lives--in matrimony three years later, the couple moved to New York City to begin a long and fruitful association with the jazz scene there.

While Jeannie continued to play and sing in local nightclubs, Jimmy did session work on more than a dozen albums by the likes of Grover Mitchell and Bill Dixon. He also wrote music for several Broadway shows and the ABC network’s “Wide World of Sports” television series, and for a time was musical director for Chico Hamilton.

In 1972, the couple moved to Madison, Wis., where they both taught in the experimental jazz program at the University of Wisconsin.

At the urging of a friend, they moved to the West Coast in 1977, spending a year in Los Angeles before coming to San Diego.

Jimmy soon landed a teaching assignment at UCSD, and, in addition to hosting their weekly jam sessions, the couple has regularly performed six nights a week in local nightclubs like the Butterfield, a penthouse lounge at the Sheraton hotel.

But early last year, the Cheathams finally realized a longstanding dream: a record contract of their own on the prestigious Concord Records jazz label.

Their first album, “Sweet Baby Blue,” was released a year ago, and a second, “Midnight Mama,” is slated for release in March. Last fall the Cheathams gave up their heavy club schedule to devote more time to recording.

What they didn’t give up, however, were the weekly jam sessions, and Jimmy Cheatham insists they never will, no matter how well their records do.

“It’s become part of our lives, something we’ve done in every city we’ve ever lived in,” he said. “And in the last eight years, there have been plenty of moments we’ll never forget--like the freestyle piano bash between Billy Taylor and Calvin Jackson that happened one night at the Sheraton.

“That night was pure magic--Calvin had just retired here, and his performance was absolutely brilliant. Last Thanksgiving he died, and it means a lot to us to have experienced at least one scene we know can never be repeated.”