Company Rift Means More Music Festival Riffs : Divisions in a production firm have resulted in two jazz festivals over the New Year’s weekend in the Palm Springs area.

A rift between the three primary partners in a nonprofit jazz production company could prove a boon to jazz fans.

For four years, Libby Huebner, John McNally and Laurie Whitlock had--as original board members, and equal partners, of Classic Jazz Management--produced jazz festivals over the New Year’s holiday in the greater Palm Springs area.

But no more. In what Huebner described as a “hostile separation,” the three--who held their event in Palm Springs from 1988-90, and in Indian Wells in 1991--have gone their own ways.

As a result, there will now be two jazz festivals in the desert area this New Year’s Eve.

Huebner and her new nonprofit company, Just Jazz, are putting on New Year’s Jazz at Indian Wells, set for Thursday through Jan. 3 at the Stouffer Esmeralda and Hyatt Grand Champions resorts in Indian Wells. Both contemporary and traditional artists--among them Joey DeFrancesco, Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham, Swing Savant and Janet Carroll--will be featured. Tickets, $15-$125 (four-day, all-event pass). Information: (310) 799-6055.

For their part, McNally and Whitlock, in association with the Jazz Factory, another not-for-profit enterprise, are producing Palm Springs International Classic Jazz, being held Wednesday through Jan. 3 at the Wyndham Palm Springs and Palm Springs Hilton hotels, and the Palm Springs Marquis Hotel & Villas. The mostly traditional jazz event features Ruth Brown, Conrad Janis and the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band, the Riverboat Jazz Band from South Africa, and others. Tickets, $20- $115 (four-day pass). Information: (619) 778-7195, (800) 433-0078.

The dispute between Huebner, owner of Ad Lib Communications in Long Beach, and McNally and Whitlock began in the weeks prior to last year’s festival, known as Indian Wells Jazz. At that time, Huebner, apparently disturbed by what she felt were “questionable business decisions” on the part of her colleagues, suggested to McNally and Whitlock that she take over the business end of the 1992 festival, substantially leaving the artistic decisions to them.

“I was concerned about the way things were being done, and that if there wasn’t strategic planning, the festival’s long-term health” was in jeopardy, said Huebner. Ultimately, Huebner and two other members of the board of Classic Jazz Management--which had been expanded to five members, one of whom was Huebner’s husband, Matt Johnson--voted to remove McNally and Whitlock.

McNally acknowledged that not everything went smoothly last year, “but it was our first year” in Indian Wells, he said, and that brought on unforeseen problems. He also rejected Huebner’s action to remove him from the board. “As far as Laurie and I were concerned, we were still on the board,” he said.

McNally continued to organize another event in Indian Wells under the Classic Jazz Management name. In May, Huebner filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior court to restrain McNally from further use of the Classic Jazz rubric. McNally and Whitlock countersued, claiming that their removal was not in accordance with Classic Jazz’s by-laws. The case is still pending.

Throughout the dispute, Huebner continued to maintain contact with the city of Indian Wells, which had sponsored 1991’s event with a $45,000 grant. The total budget for the event was more than $150,000, the remainder of which came from ticket sales. According to Huebner, the 1991 event operated at a deficit.

In August, Huebner and Just Jazz were given the city’s authorization to stage an event in 1992, and received another $45,000 in city funds; the festival has an approximate budget of $168,000. Undaunted, McNally and Whitlock in September formed the Jazz Factory and made plans to hold a festival in Palm Springs, which has sanctioned the event, but offered no funding. The budget is approximately $100,000.

Despite their differences, McNally and Huebner both say they hope for a quick end to their disagreement and wish each other well with the new festivals. “If the two events are successful, then the original dreams of these three people, which were to have jazz events all over the Coachella Valley, are moving in the right direction,” said McNally.

On the Airwaves: Hank Jones, Toshiko Akiyoshi, George Shearing and Billy Taylor are just four of the pianists spotlighted on NPR’s “A Piano Jazz Christmas,” heard today from 1 to 3 p.m. on KPCC-FM (89.3), and from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on KCRW-FM (89.9). KPCC is also presenting Branford Marsalis, Herbie Hancock and others who performed at the 1992 Monterey Jazz Festival, airing on Tuesday, 8 to 10 p.m.; and a coast-to-coast New Year’s Eve Party, with Lou Rawls, Roy Hargrove and the Cheathams, airing Thursday, 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.