Jimmy Cheatham, the longtime head of UC San Diego's jazz program who recently died at age 82, is widely and properly acknowledged for the role he and wife, Jeannie, played in nurturing and promoting San Diego's jazz community once they arrived in the county in 1978.

But Jimmy's influence extends far beyond both the confines of jazz and San Diego, as two tribute shows Friday night illustrate.

Sweet Baby J'ai, a Los Angeles-based jazz and blues singer who originally hails from Kansas City, will lead a jazz tribute to her late friend and mentor at 7 p.m. in Encinitas. An hour later, the Hutchins Consort, an eight-piece string ensemble from North County, will present a classical and jazz concert in honor of Cheatham in Carlsbad.

Tying the two shows together ("That's always the way it works out," J'ai said on learning the two tributes are happening at the same time) are the love and respect both J'ai and Hutchins Consort founder/leader Joe McNalley profess for Cheatham.

For four years, McNalley played bass for Jimmy -- both at UCSD, and in the Cheathams' Sunday-night jam sessions and in their Sweet Baby Blues Band.

"I was 18 when I started playing with Jimmy, and I was about 22 when I ended up moving away," McNalley said from his North County home. "I was the regular bass player in the UCSD jazz band for about four years."

And while he has pursued a career in classical music as opposed to the jazz, swing and blues that defined Jimmy's career, McNalley said he still carries what he learned from Jimmy.

"In terms of putting my time together, and learning the tradition, I really learned that from Jimmy," he said.

J'ai said she knew of the Cheathams before she met them.

"The name of their band is the Sweet Baby Blues Band, and my name is Sweet Baby," she said of her initial awareness of the Cheathams. "I'd have people say something about having heard of my band, and I'd say thanks, and then they'd say something about Jeannie and Jimmy and I'd think, 'I don't have a Jeannie or a Jimmy in my band,' " she laughed.

Eventually, her path and Jimmy's crossed on the road, she said, and she adopted the Cheathams' signature song -- the bawdy "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On" -- as her theme.

While that will be the only Cheathams' composition in her program Friday at the Seaside Center for Spiritual Living, J'ai said her style of music is very similar to that of the Cheathams.

"My tribute is because we play the same kind of music -- I'm a Kansas City girl," she said. "Gary Thompson is sitting in on trombone to let folks know that this was a great, great trombonist and deserves all the tributes he can get."

McNalley said he decided to dedicate the Hutchins Consort show on Friday to Cheatham because of what he learned from him, and because of the way Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham ran the jam sessions.

"I always felt like it was an extreme honor to be allowed on the same stand with those guys," he said of the jam sessions, which often featured such legendary jazz players as Snooky Young, Red Callender and Charles McPherson.

"That was part of the tradition, which is unfortunately going by the wayside," said McNalley, whose Hutchins Consort features eight musicians who perform on a matching set of eight scaled violins. "There just aren't places like that anymore for young kids to interact with the seasoned professionals.

"The fit was such that I thought it was a really good thing to do, because I wouldn't know any of this without him."

A Tribute to Kansas City Bluesman Jimmy Cheatham with Sweet Baby J'ai and her band

When: 7 p.m. Feb. 23

Where: Seaside Center for Spiritual Living, 1613 Lake Drive, Encinitas

Tickets: $20

Info: (760) 753-5786, Ext. 810

Web: seasidechurch.org

"All That Jazz" with the Hutchins Consort

When: 8 p.m. Feb. 23

Where: Schulman Auditorium, Carlsbad Public Library, 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad

Tickets: $23, $16 students and seniors

Info: (949) 675-6010

Web: hutchinsconsort.org