If 2006 was brutal to the local music scene -- taking from us local luminaries Buddy "Blue" Seigal, Hollis Gentry and Peggy Claire, each gone far too soon -- 2007 was less tough, but no less sad. The death of Jimmy Cheatham stings still, some 11 1/2 months later. And if Cheatham packed what would have been several full lives for most people into his 82 years, the brightness of his accomplishments and impact on the local music community only heighten the loss.

Jimmy and his wife, Jeannie, came to San Diego County in the mid-1970s when Jimmy was hired to build a solid jazz program at UC San Diego. What they also brought was a pipeline from San Diego to the larger jazz world. Jimmy had played trombone briefly in Duke Ellington's band, was staff arranger for Chico Hamilton for much of the 1960s, and as a young man had rubbed shoulders with Count Basie alumni Jo Jones and Lester Young in a segregated Army band during World War II.

For her part, Jeannie had played piano behind former Basie singer Jimmy Rushing, as well as toured with Dakota Stanton.

So when the Cheathams arrived in San DIego and started up a weekly Sunday night jam session at the airport Sheraton, suddenly you had jazz heavyweights such as Snooky Young (Basie band, "Tonight Show" Band) and Red Callender coming down from L.A. to trade blues riffs with the Cheathams and their friends.

While San Diego has had a local jazz community going back to the 1920s, if not earlier, the Cheathams helped make San Diego a world-class city. Charles McPherson, the longtime saxophonist for Charles Mingus, lived here, as did Barney Kessel, James Moody and Mundell Lowe. But they played only infrequent gigs in town, living here but mostly playing elsewhere. The Cheathams' jam sessions (at which McPherson was a regular participant) served as a bridge between San Diego's jazz musicians and the rest of the world.

And because Jimmy invited some of his best students, and because it was an open jam at which anyone with the requisite skill (and nerve) could sit in, at least for a song or two, their jam sessions served a role similar to that of the old big bands. At their jam sessions, a young James Zollar or Brian Lynch could trade riffs with McPherson or Jimmie Noone Jr. -- providing a place where the younger generation could absorb the knowledge and values of preceding generations in a performance setting.

In the mid-'80s, the Cheathams and their Sweet Baby Blues Band were signed to Concord Records -- joining Fattburger and rock acts such as the Beat Farmers and Mojo Nixon and folkie Cindy Lee Berryhill as San Diego bands with national recording contracts. The popularity of their signature song, "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On," helped put San Diego on the map nationally.

But Jimmy's biggest impact on San Diego was in the thousands of students who came through the UCSD jazz program under his stewardship. Not all of them ended up pursuing jazz or even music as a profession, but all of them were certainly touched by his warmth, his concern for everyone he ever mentored, by the way he made you feel you were the most important person in the world when he was talking with you.

Jimmy Cheatham was an amazing presence, and we won't see his like again.

Of course, as one figure leaves the local music scene, taking a bit of color with him, more arrive, and this year was no exception. Brenda Xu began performing at local acoustic venues this past year, immediately making a mark with her crystalline voice and tight songwriting. Melissa Vaughan, too, first began getting notice on the acoustic scene in 2007, although she had begun playing out in late '06. Given the stellar songs both women write and their outstanding performances during the past year, local music fans can expect each to continue to grow and improve in '08.

And more than 10,000 locals turned out for "American Idol" in July when Fox's popular TV talent show held San Diego auditions for the first time. Stay tuned during the spring season of "American Idol" to see how San Diego's contingent fares under Simon Cowell's withering critiques.

Finally, an icon of San Diego County's musical calendar continued its downward slide. Street Scene -- once one of the best annual music festivals in the world, modeled on New Orleans' Jazz & Heritage Festival

Below is one music fan's take on some of the best of what happened in 2007; it's not meant to be a comprehensive list -- such judgments are inherently subjective, and are limited to what I was able to hear during the last 12 months.

Favorite local albums

• "The Flimz" -- The Flimz
  Annie Dru and Amy Mayer make like the younger sisters of the Everly Brothers on their debut as a duo, issuing a CD with absolutely remarkable vocal harmonies backed by the warm glow of a chamber rock outfit. Utterly unique and completely charming.

• "Beloved Stranger" -- Cindy Lee Berryhill
  It was far too long between releases, but Encinitas' Berryhill returns to the studio with her best collection of songs yet. The one-time leader of the anti-folk movement is one of the strongest songwriters in the country, and "When Did Jesus Become a Republican?" and the title song are among her very best.

• "Who to Trust, Who to Kill, Who to Love" -- The Bloody Hollies
  Equal parts T. Rex and Guns 'N Roses, the Bloody Hollies' new CD is raw, three-chord rock 'n' roll in a classic vein.

• "All Directions" -- The Donnis Trio
  If Nate Donnis hits it big someday, he may well look back at this album as the starting point. He's a hit-writing machine in the making -- a fully developed musical vision, the ability to turn out radio-friendly (or Internet-friendly) pop songs, and a voice you can't forget.

• "Old California Town" -- Larry Robinson
  Robinson toyed with serious rock music fame some 40 years ago with the band Things to Come, yet only now issued his first solo record. But what an album. Great singing in that deep baritone of his, and a set of country-rockers to rival anything coming out of Nashville these days.

• "Here's to Being Happy" -- the Modlins
  San Diego's Modlins issued two records this year -- talk about old-school. Both were fantastic slices of '60s-tinged powerpop, but their first probably made more of an impact by virtue of being first.

Favorite local songs

• "Beloved Stranger" -- Cindy Lee Berryhill
  Her overtly political "When Did Jesus Become a Republican?" made the Top 20 at Neil Young's "Living With War" Web site, but the heartbreakingly personal "Beloved Stranger" is the tougher to get out of your head -- or your heart.

• "As Good As Gone" -- the Modlins
  If Herman's Hermits or the Animals ever re-form, and are looking for a song to capture their original 1960s' British Invasion vibe, this could be it.

• "Heart Break Road" -- Tony Ortiz
  The one-time lead singer for the Monroes returned home to San Diego County in 2007, and after hooking up with former Monroes guitarist Rusty Jones, Ortiz rediscovered his powerhouse singing voice and discovered a knack for writing perfect rock songs. This was only the best of a strong group of new material that he's been working into the sets of the Formerly Brothers, the name he and Jones are performing under.

Best non-local albums

• "Sister Holler" -- Nerissa and Katryna Nields
  The Massachussetts-based sister duo of the Nields continue moving away from the alt-rock of their early '90s band and even deeper into bluegrass and mountain hollers. Their third folk/bluegrass outing, this is one of the best traditional albums heard in recent memory -- all the more startling in that Nerissa writes all of their songs; she just manages to write new tunes that sound as if they've been around forever. When these songs are performed in the sister's unparalleled harmony vocals, it's spine-tingling.

• "Rhythms del Mundo" -- various artists
  The Buena Vista Social Club's take on the kind of duet outings that worked wonders for the careers of Carlos Santana and John Lee Hooker, "Rhythms del Mundo" remakes hit songs by U2, Maroon 5, Sting, Coldplay and Jack Johnson (among others) by putting a Latin spin on them. The results are almost uniformly excellent, with "Better Tonight," "Clocks" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" given new beauty by the unexpected approach.

• "Odessa / Havana" -- David Buchbinder
  So new, we've not even gotten around to reviewing it, this record groups Cuban and klezmer musicians for a Latin-Jewish big-band recording that comes off so wholly organic it seems far more complete than any other experiment we can think of.

• "Art Metal" -- Jonas Hellborg
  A Danish bassist whose music resides somewhere between hard rock, fusion jazz and world beat, Hellborg records with a guitarist for the first time since the passing of longtime collaborator Shawn Lane. Mattias "IA" Eklundh's playing is nothing like that of Lane (nobody's could be; Lane was that distinctive), but his musical personality is just as distinctive, and he clicks with Hellborg on a similar level. The new album sounds like a cross between 1980s' King Crimson, mid-'70s Weather Report and Tool. And not since Jaco Pastorious died has there been a bassist more able to pull in new sounds from his instrument than Hellborg.

• "Cut From the Hopeless" -- Amy Pickard and the Cradlers
  If Norah Jones or Diana Krall ever decide to start singing bluegrass-flavored trad country, Amy Pickard would serve as good an example as exists. The Philadelphia-based Pickard's debut album is a seamless melding of jazz-styled singing and bluegrass playing. And outside Nerissa Nields and Laurie Lewis, nobody is writing traditional-styled songs this good.

Favorite musical moment

• Queen Latifah at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido
  Rap singer and movie star, sure. But Queen Latifah is absolutely in her element holding court in front of her jazz/R&B band for an appreciative audience. Her Escondido show was pure old-school entertainment in the mold of Sinatra or Judy Garland. She and her crack band owned the crowd that night, a combination of her own luminescent charisma and a gorgeous set of pipes that sailed through everything from classic big-band jazz to contemporary soul.