Oct. 01--If you're a serious jazz singer, or listener, chances are you revere the work of Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Torme.
For Fitzgerald raised the art of scat singing -- which involves inventing technically complex, wordless vocals -- to a level still unmatched, nearly two decades after her death in 1996, at age 79.
Torme, too, produced scat singing of remarkable improvisational brilliance, his suppleness of voice quite rare among male singers even today, long after his death in 1999, at age 73.
So one doesn't envy contemporary singers who decide to pay homage to either of those vocal giants, let alone to both of them in a single show. Nevertheless, the exceptional Chicago cabaret singer-pianist Johnny Rodgers and the new-to-Chicago singer Ellen Winters are doing just that, premiering "Ella Meets Mel" this weekend at Davenport's.
"We're not impersonating them," says Rodgers, who launched his career in Chicago in the 1990s, left in 2000 and returned last year.
"We are doing transcriptions of a couple of numbers. And we're paying homage to the style that they brought, and trying to hit that style marker.
"In the early '50s, Mel Torme was on the same bill with Ella Fitzgerald at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles, and he would stand in the wings and just listen in awe to Ella. I just think it's a matter of paying authentic tribute to what he brought."
Or, as Winters puts it, "We have never, nor will we ever, try to be them, because they already were. They were Ella and Mel, and nobody else will be them. But from a legacy standpoint, we hope to pass it on to future generations. If you're not hip to Mel and Ella, we hope our show inspires you to hear them."
How well the two can capture the spirit, if not the letter, of Fitzgerald's and Torme's work remains to be heard. But if anyone is equipped to conjure the style and the era that made them stars, it's Rodgers, a singular talent whose vocal fluency in a variety of idioms can be difficult to fathom, though easy to enjoy. That Rodgers also knows his way around a piano well enough to have accompanied Liza Minnelli on tour and sings and dances with sufficient aplomb to have appeared with her on Broadway in 2008 in "Liza's at the Palace..." gives you an idea of the range of his gifts.
His admiration of Torme dates back to his student days at Western Michigan University, where a friend introduced him to the landmark recordings of Torme with pianist George Shearing, "and I absolutely fell in love," remembers Rodgers. "I got every album he ever made -- he was the foremost influence on my jazz singing."
Moreover, Rodgers had the rare privilege of singing with Torme -- and appearing on a poster with him -- during Rodgers' studies at Western Michigan.
"I remember that night John sang with Mel," says Winters, who met Rodgers at the school. "He was a Mel-Tone," she adds, referring to an impromptu version of Torme's vocal group of the 1940s.
When they were in school, Winters and Rodgers (and the other students) were assigned to write a transcription of a recording of a favorite singer. Winters chose Fitzgerald's stunning version of "Lady Be Good," and Rodgers re-created Torme's account of Shearing's "Lullaby of Birdland."
The two singers went their own ways after school, Winters eventually settling in Milwaukee and Rodgers returning to Chicago last year, quickly re-establishing himself as one of the most accomplished cabaret artists in this city or any other. Winters caught one of his shows at Davenport's and inevitably was called up to the stage.
"We did an improvised duet, we looked at each other and said: Hey, that sounds pretty good," she remembers.
"I had an idea: Since I always loved Ella, and he always loved Mel, we should do an Ella and Mel show. He said: Why not?"
The two have been honing their project since November and after the Davenport's premiere plan a reprise Nov. 15 at the Skokie Theatre. They'll perform repertoire famously associated with Fitzgerald and Torme, but more than that, too.
For they'll also sing tunes "we wish they would have done together," says Rodgers, "to hear what that might sound like."
For Winters, who still lives in Milwaukee but teaches at Columbia College Chicago, this performance will be an opportunity to introduce herself to listeners in what she calls "my breakout performance in Chicago."
For Rodgers, it will be a reaffirmation of his decision to return here after a long journey that took him to New York in 2000, to Nashville from 2012-13 and back to this city in 2014.
"New York is wonderful," he says, "but Chicago is just treating me so great."
Considering the stature of his work, that's not so surprising.
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Davenport's, 1383 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Tickets: $25 plus two-drink minimum; 773-278-1830 or www.davenportspianobar.com
hreich@tribpub.com
"Portraits in Jazz": Howard Reich's e-book collects his exclusive interviews with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and others, plus profiles of past masters such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. Get "Portraits in Jazz" at chicagotribune.com/ebooks.
