SAN DIEGO’S YEAR IN JAZZ : 1990 Saw Jazz Scene Grow in Stature : Music: Even though strides must still be made, jazz lovers are enjoying a new maturity in San Diego club activity.

The city’s jazz scene isn’t out of adolescence yet, but it sprouted a few whiskers and grew to nearly full height in 1990.

Low wages, a shortage of club work for local players and the demise of some key clubs kept the scene wobbly despite its longer legs, but overall, jazz was bigger and stronger. Among the signs of new maturity:

* Elario’s was reborn under the guidance of San Diego Jazz Festival founder Rob Hagey, who began mixing young lions in with the club’s usual lineup of veteran jazz stalwarts.

* All That Jazz opened in Rancho Bernardo, and talent coordinator Tony Sidotti helped both the new club and the Horton Grand Hotel downtown expand their horizons to include such nationally known acts as Jimmy and Stacy Rowles, Milcho Leviev, Bill Mays and Barney Kessel.

* The Jazz Link, the San Diego-based jazz monthly, celebrated its second birthday in May, added correspondents in Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; Denver, and Chattanooga, Tenn., and expanded its readership to 47 states as well as Belgium, Denmark, Japan, England and Sweden.

* After a few false starts, KIFM (98.1) has a solid Sunday night straight-ahead jazz program. New host Ron Galon just might expand the horizons of the station’s light jazz audience.

* The San Diego Jazz Party in February and the Thanksgiving Dixieland festival in Mission Valley brought traditional jazz to large numbers of fans.

* Croce’s in downtown San Diego continued to present jazz twice a day, seven days a week, making it the leader in local live jazz.

Of course growth didn’t come without growing pains.

As Elario’s showcased more young, rising talents who wanted to bring their own bands, top locals such as drummer Jim Plank and bassist Bob Magnusson worked less at Elario’s and had to look elsewhere to fill some nights.

The demise of jazz jams at Kelly’s Pub, the Salmon House and Croce’s meant fewer chances for young players to test themselves against the pros, and for established locals to get together just for fun once in a while.

The Beach House restaurant in Mission Beach and Diego’s Loft in Pacific Beach discontinued jazz after struggling for months to build audiences.

Diego’s Loft may come back in 1991. Famed clarinetist Bobby Gordon hopes to work the room occasionally. And the Beach House’s tiny bar may try jazz again next summer, but as of last summer, wasn’t drawing enough people to support appearances by a variety of locals and talented out-of-towners including Denver pianist-vocalist Ellyn Rucker.

What were the year’s top performances?

* Etta James, bold and bawdy at Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay, gave one of the most soulful performances during the summer concert series which generally leans toward middle-of-the-road light jazz and pop.

* Chico Freeman brought his hip and gritty New York licks to Elario’s, where he was equally at home on sax and flute.

* Plus several hot performances by rising jazz stars at Elario’s, including those by guitarist Bill Frisell, pianist Michel Camilo (with former San Diegan Cliff Almond on drums), saxophonist Christopher Hollyday and pianist Marcus Roberts.

Keyboardist Keiko Matsui took top honors in the overexposure category. Earlier in the year, she played the Sunday jazz series at Culbertson’s Winery in Temecula, and in the fall, made almost back-to-back appearances at the Michelob Street Scene and Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay.

Alternative modes of jazz, however, didn’t have many outlets in 1990. The Ruse Performance Gallery, which recently moved from space in the Gaslamp Quarter to the Marquis Public Theatre, presented some of the few performances by cutting-edge jazz groups including the Rova Saxophone Quartet.

Musicians Local 325 found itself fighting for respect as many jazz players chose not to join. Many feel that the union doesn’t offer enough in exchange for the $78 annual dues; the union will attempt to improve its image by opening its own booking agency in January.

While KIFM’s repertoire expanded with Galon’s Sunday night show, KSDS-FM (88.3), San Diego’s only full-time jazz station, continued presenting a rich mix of music, events and special programs, most notably the seven-part radio biography of Miles Davis (it also aired on KPBS-FM).

KSDS jock “T” celebrated his seventh anniversary as host of “Every Shade of Blue,” the Saturday blues program. Longtime San Diego radio personality Rod Page, the self-dubbed “Golden Page of Music,” joined KSDS with a Sunday afternoon show, and former KSDS jocks Christine Reeves and Ron Dhanifu returned to the fold with shows Sundays and Tuesdays.

KPBS-TV taped 11 new “Club Date” programs during its 1990 fiscal year, bringing the total number of shows to more than 25. New shows featured Hank Jones, Buddy Collette, Mundell Lowe and, in a departure from the the usual straight-ahead fare, fusion keyboardist Rob Mullins.

KPBS will make six new programs in 1991, beginning with tapings of Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham and the Sweet Baby Blues Band Jan. 6 and saxophonist Frank Morgan Jan. 11.

Collegiate jazz in San Diego jumped on the national map when the San Diego State University Jazz Ensemble’s CD “Don’t Make Noise!” received three out of a possible five stars in the December issue of Downbeat, with special praise going to alto saxophonists Colin Mason and Art Fisher.

Bob and Gretchen Geib brought good jazz to San Diegans through their Society for Straight-ahead Jazz, including a rare performance by former John Coltrane bassist Art Davis at Diego’s Loft, and another by guitarist and former Padre Eric Show in a quintet also featuring local saxman Gary LeFevre, which drew 270 people to the Salmon House.

Summer outdoor jazz was more available than ever, led by the city of Carlsbad’s series of nine concerts at neighborhood parks. Who could forget avant-garde saxophonist Turiya’s performance? In shorts and sunglasses, she looked like a tourist as she delivered driving jazz to moms, pops and kids on a warm summer’s eve with the group Kokopelli.