How to Ring in the New Year in San Diego in a Jazzy Way

Just one more week of jazz remains in 1990, but there’s still time to wring out the final few notes, especially New Year’s Eve.

The biggest Dec. 31 bash will be KIFM’s sixth Lites Out Jazz New Year’s Eve at the Catamaran and Bahia hotels and on boats cruising Mission Bay between them.

Spyro Gyra, Ronnie Laws and Tim Weisberg are this year’s headliners, with support from locals Hollis Gentry, Fattburger, Forecast, Colours, Dr. Chico’s Island Sounds, Peter Robberecht and Randy Beecher.

A $75 ticket admits you to performances by Spyro Gyra and one of the other headliners; $55 gets you Spyro Gyra and local bands; $50 buys either Laws or Weisberg, plus locals. If these tickets don’t sell out, less expensive ones will be available to let you hear the locals only. All tickets include party favors plus a champagne toast at midnight.

Spyro Gyra has a new album and a new billing--”Spyro Gyra featuring Jay Beckenstein,” the group’s saxophonist and one of its original members.

“Essentially, the name was my decision, not a band decision,” Beckenstein said. “It’s not that my involvement has increased; it has always been essential to what the band has done.”

Band members Dave Samuels (vibes and marimba) and Tom Schuman (keyboards) launched solo careers as a result of Spyro Gyra. Since Beckenstein writes, by his own estimate, roughly half the group’s material, produces their albums and uses the band as his sole musical outlet, he felt justified taking more credit.

The new album, “Fast Forward,” ranges from Latin rhythms, to the funk-rock Miles Davis tribute “4MD” featuring guest Dave Beal’s on Miles-like muted trumpet.

Beckenstein plays tenor on the album for the first time in years, in addition to soprano and alto saxes.

“As soon as I pick up a tenor and start fooling around, I start hearing Stan Getz and John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins,” Beckenstein said. “The material I wrote for tenor was somewhat evocative of those people. ‘Shadow Play,’ for example, is very ‘Trane-inspired.”

Meanwhile, saxophonist Laws is pleased with his new album “Identity.”

“In my heart, I feel it’s one of my strongest ever,” said the brother of jazz flutist Hubert and singers Eloise and Debra, with whom he plans to record a first-ever family album next year.

Like George Benson, Laws moved into singing in the 1980s, and he sings two songs on “Identity,” including the single “Morning in My Life,” dedicated to his wife of 20 years, Karmen.

Flutist Weisberg’s last album, “Outrageous Temptations,” released last year, teamed him with David Benoit, Russ Freeman and other light jazz mainstays, with a slick but uninspired result.

Last year’s Lites Out party drew 2,000, and 2,500 are expected this year.

At Elario’s, Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham and their Sweet Baby Blues Band will close out the year after playing there for the first time last spring. They play nightly from Friday through New Year’s Eve.

The group will play several songs from its new “Luv in the Afternoon” album, which features blues guitarist Clarence (Gatemouth) Brown; however, Brown won’t be on hand New Year’s Eve.

Shows are at 8:30 and 10:30 Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and at 9, 10:30 and midnight Friday and Saturday.

Admission to the New Year’s Eve shows comes with a $75 dinner package. Call 459-0541 for reservations or information.

At the San Diego Princess Hotel on Mission Bay, the complex polyrhythms of Afro-Brazilian music will greet fans with “New Year’s Eve in Rio 1990.” The bash features Lula and Afro Brasil, a dance-and-music troupe. Bahian vocalist and master percussionist Lula Almeida was one of the founders of Olodum, the Brazilian group that backs Paul Simon on his new album, “The Rhythm of the Saints.”

Since moving to Los Angeles in 1986, Almeida has introduced Americans to a variety of Afro-Brazilian sounds, most recently through his 18-month-old group Afro Brasil. The band opened for Hugh Masekela in front of 2,000 people at an Afro-Caribbean festival in San Antonio last month. Tickets for a New Year’s Eve package are $50. Information: 222-6911.

Other New Year’s jazz:

Zzaj at Club Saxx in Southeast San Diego, beginning at 9. The $25 admission charge also includes stand-up comedy and dinner. . . .

Quarteto Agape, featuring Mel Goot on piano, is part of a $50 dinner/party package at Croce’s downtown, with music beginning at 9. . . .

Singer Mark Meadows and his band Class Act start at 9 at the Hilton Hotel in Del Mar; there’s a $10 cover charge. . . .

Harvey and the 52nd St. Jive Band are the featured performers on the $85 New Year’s dinner/entertainment package at the Inn L’Auberge in Del Mar, with music starting at 8. . . .

Veteran trumpeter Fro Brigham and his group play a variety of traditional jazz at Pal Joey’s in Allied Gardens beginning at 9, no cover, reservations recommended: 286-7873. . . .

Drummer Chuck McPherson and the Jazz Disciples play Barnett’s Bistro at the Embassy Suites Hotel downtown beginning at 8:30, $10 cover. . . .

Sol e Mar performs Brazilian jazz and dance in the U.S. Grant Hotel’s lobby beginning at 9, no cover. . . .

Speed of Sound plays fusion at Chuck’s Steakhouse in La Jolla beginning at 9, no cover. . . .

Trombonist Aubrey Fay and his band play The French Connection in Scripps Ranch.

RIFFS: Vocalist Jon Hendricks has been confirmed for Elario’s, Jan. 16 through 20. . . .

Fattburger plays the Catamaran’s “Lites Out Jazz” night Wednesday at 8. . . .

Pianist Cedar Walton is the star of KPBS-TV’s “Club Date” jazz program this Saturday at 8:30 p.m., repeating Monday at 1:30 p.m.