The Eyes Have It in Gonzales’ Act : * Jazz: The saxophonist moves around the stage and looks directly at audience while he performs, striving to entertain them.

Is Jeff Gonzales the Cal Worthington of contemporary saxophonists?

Maybe the 24-year-old Seattle native won’t attempt to stand on his head as he plays, or ride his dog Spot, disguised as a hippo, into a nightclub. Then again, he’s not about to stand still in front of a microphone and simply deliver sweet phrases.

“The audience wants to be entertained, so it’s important for instrumentalists to put on a show,” said the soprano sax specialist who appears at Bistro 201 in Irvine tonight and at the Studio Cafe in Corona Del Mar on Saturday and Sunday. “So I employ things like stage presence and eye contact.”

Gonzales said onstage mobility and looking directly into the eyes of audience members while he performs is similar to having a conversation with them.

“When you talk with another person, you don’t sit still like a robot--you use your hands and body language to emphasize what you’re saying, to make something more clear,” said Gonzales, who now lives in Costa Mesa.

Some musicians might consider such antics to be tricks or distractions. But to Gonzales, who doesn’t sing, “I feel I can communicate without lyrics, that the listeners will understand what I’m trying to say.”

And what is it that Gonzales is trying to communicate? “I feel certain emotions, some sad, some really happy, some about my life experiences,” he said. “And those are the feelings that I put into my music.”

Jazz is the ideal medium for his message, Gonzales said. “It’s an art form that encompasses musical ability and the way you interpret sounds. It allows you to create what you feel and hear inside you.”

On a recent demo tape, Gonzales passionately plays melodies that are pretty, if somewhat innocuous, and that don’t have a lot of rhythmic starch. His strength is his sound, which is round and warm, and recalls one of his major influences--Grover Washington Jr.

“I also love David Sanborn. He plays with so much power and emotion,” said Gonzales.

He said the tape mirrors his performances at Bistro 201--he’s there Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, accompanied by pianist Kevin Toney--and his Tuesday and Sunday appearances at the Studio Cafe, where he performs solo, backed by pre-programmed, synthesized accompaniment.

“Those nights, I do more romantic sets, with the accents on ballads and slower tunes,” he said. He offers about 75% originals, with selected renditions of tunes made famous by other artists--Washington’s “Limelight” and Kenny G’s “Songbird” among them.

For his backgrounds, he employs some MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) gear that enables him to record programs at home and then play them in the club, turning them on and off though a variety of foot pedals.

“I have about 200 to 300 sounds that I can call up, from a string section and piano to drums or percussion,” he said. “I can create whatever situations I want, sculpt the sound I’m hearing in my head.”

That breadth of electronic sounds still can’t match the feeling of playing with a band, as Gonzales does Saturdays at the Studio, where he works with keyboardist Tom McMoran, bassist Bryant Simpson and, this week, drummer Joey Heredia.

“There’s an energy, a groove that you can only get with live players,” said Gonzales. “We play off each other.’

On Saturdays, Gonzales delivers a different, funkier brand of music he calls his “jazz fusion of the ‘90s.”

“We incorporate jazz, funk, hip-hop, house music and metal,” he said, defining “metal” as “something that burns up, that’s intense, that’s powerful.”

Gonzales got an alto saxophone in the third grade, then switched to a soprano at age 11. He said he plays it exclusively because he likes the way it feels in his hands and “it’s more like my voice, what I hear in my mind.”

He studied formally with Johnnie Jessen, who taught Kenny Gorelick (a.k.a. Kenny G). Gonzales moved to Southern California soon after finishing high school because he was ready to become a professional and there were few opportunities to play contemporary jazz in the Pacific Northwest.

Los Angeles didn’t open its musical doors to the newcomer, so he ventured to Orange County, where he found audiences generally more receptive. “Some nights are great, others are so-so.”

But even if there was no money involved, Gonzales would play music, he said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life.”

* Jeff Gonzales plays Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. at Bistro 201, 18201 Von Karman Ave., Irvine. Information: (714) 553-9201. Also Tuesdays and Sundays from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., at the Studio Cafe, 3201 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. Information: (714) 675-7575. Also plays Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Zuni Grill, 3966 Barranca Parkway, Irvine. Information: (714) 262-0864. All engagements are no cover or minimum.