What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

With the holiday shopping frenzy in full swing, remembering to check to see who might be playing at your favorite jazz venue is easy to forget. With that in mind, here is our first annual holiday reminder of good things to come.

Catalina Bar & Grill

The Hollywood venue continues to offer an appealing musical menu. Charles Lloyd and Cedar Walton’s trio continue their six-night stand through Sunday. Then comes invigorating and extroverted pianist Horace Tapscott on Dec. 16-18, reedman Buddy Collette on Dec. 22-24. Joshua Redman closes out the year with his quartet, featuring the wonderful bassist Christian McBride, from Dec. 27 to Jan 1. The Dec. 31 package, with dinner and favors, costs $95. (213) 466-2210.

Jazz Bakery

The subtle and inventive brassman Art Farmer holds forth at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City tonight and Saturday, kicking off a batch of solid holiday bookings. Then Tuesday through Thursday, mainstream guitarist Howard Alden appears in various configurations, followed by duo pianists Les McCann and Jon Mayer on Dec. 16-17, and underrated but first-rate pianist Ronnell Bright on Dec. 18. Fleet-fingered and melodic guitarist Ron Affif performs on Dec. 22 and Billy Childs’ quartet plays New Year’s Eve ($35 cover). (310) 271-9039.

Club Brasserie

The Club Brasserie in the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood offers good music and continues its no-cover policy. Tonight and Saturday, it’s jazz trumpeter/film composer Mark Isham, then on Wednesday and Thursday, check out New York-based be-bop trumpeter Richie Vitale. On Dec. 16-17, the heralded mainstream trumpeter Conte Candoli holds forth. “Tonight Show” pianist Kenny Kirkland and drummer Jeff Watts arrive on Dec. 23. The L.A. Jazz Quartet, featuring guitarist Larry Koonse and saxophonist Chuck Manning, is in on Dec. 28, while Teddy Edwards tears it up on New Year’s Eve. Two seatings for that show--7 p.m. at $55, 9 p.m. at $75. (310) 854-1111.

Room Upstairs

The cozy Room Upstairs at Le Cafe offers a nice variety of artists over the holidays. Singer Shelby Flint and pianist Gregg Karukas offer an “Acoustic Christmas” show tonight and Saturday, masterful Brazilian singer/songwriter Dori Caymmi performs on Dec. 16-17, the stunning Venezuelan pianist Otmaro Ruiz plays on Dec. 30 and Karukas returns to ring in the New Year on Dec. 31. That show costs $30; prix-fixe dinner also available at $35. (818) 986-2662.

More Venues

Other New Year’s Eve possibilities include Horace Tapscott at Fifth Street Dick’s, $10 cover, (213) 296-3970; Les McCann at Typhoon, banquet and show, $175 per couple, (310) 390-6565: David Basse at Lunaria, $65 package, (310) 282-8870; Lynetta Kidd and the Palm Beach Trio at the Moonlight Tango Cafe, $39 for 6 p.m. show, $89 for 9 p.m. show, (818) 788-2000; Jimmy Madden at Chadney’s, $5 cover, (818) 853-5333, and Jim and Martha Hession at Jax, where there’s no cover, (818) 500-1604.

If you feel like getting out of town, there’s always New Years’ Jazz at Indian Wells, where pianist Gene Harris, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Hadda Brooks headline the Dec. 30-Jan. 1 event, which costs from $35 to $250. Information: (310) 799-6055.

On the Radio: KJAZ, the San Francisco Bay area-based jazz station that left the airwaves in July after 35 years of broadcasting, is back as a cable and satellite radio station. Headquartered in Alameda, KJAZ resumed broadcasting on Dec. 1, and is currently available on cable in the Bay Area, and will be on Time Warner cable in Manhattan within 10 days, said Eric Blangsted, spokesman for KJAZ.

The 24-hour-a-day station, however, is not yet on cable in the Southland and the firm has not begun talks with local companies. But for those with satellite dishes in Southern California, the station can be found at SATCOM C1, Transponder 4 (Sports Channel Pacific), 7.74 Mhz left channel, 7.92 Mhz right channel.

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The Barber Poll: Patricia Barber’s new release, “Cafe Blue” on Premonion Records, has been getting strong airplay on a variety of stations from KLON-FM and KCRW-FM in Los Angeles to WBGO-FM, which serves the greater New York area. The Chicago-based vocalist and pianist makes her Los Angeles debut Thursday at LunaPark, working with bassist Michael Arnopol, singing such selections as “A Taste of Honey” and “Ode to Billie Joe.” Showtime is 9 p.m., cover is $8. Information: (310) 652-0611.