During the past few years, Davenport’s — a jewel box of a cabaret — has emerged as a first-rate producer of late-night musical revues.
Starting with “Grapefruit Moon: The Music of Tom Waits,” the club elegantly has revived the work of far-flung singer-songwriters such as Leonard Cohen and Laura Nyro, reimagining their music for vocal ensemble and jazz-tinged backup band.
If the latest installment in the series, “Blue Eyed Soul: The Music of Dusty Springfield,” doesn’t quite match the intensity and insight of the earlier pieces, it offers a pleasant tour of pop hits of the 1960s and early ’70s. With some fine-tuning, the production could become even more effective.
Though many listeners may have forgotten Springfield, who died in 1999 at age 59, of breast cancer, practically everyone of a certain age will recall Springfield hits such as “The Look of Love,” “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” and “Son of a Preacher Man.” These tunes, and others, recall an era when elements of black music began to reshape white popular culture — hence the term “blue eyed soul.”
The quartet of female singers that has convened to celebrate the genre, and one of its most persuasive voices, clearly loves this music, though probably a bit too much. The singers generally hit these tunes hard, cranking up the volume and dramatic intensity to levels that the songs cannot always withstand. By pouring histrionics into four-part renditions of “What’s It Gonna Be” and “I Only Want to Be With You,” by blasting away on a duet version of “I Just Want to Be There,” the troupe sacrifices some of the sexiness and sensuality of this music, and the idiom it represents.
Moreover, the Springfield show lacks one critical element that drove the others — a songwriter’s point of view. Springfield, after all, didn’t write these songs; she interpreted them, though quite lustrously. As a result, “Blue Eyed Soul” unfolds without the thematic power of a show such as “Grapefruit Moon,” which hauntingly conjured up Waits’ tough and grimy milieu, or “Stoned Soul Picnic,” which summed up Nyro’s role as creator of 1970s pop anthems such as “And When I Die,” “Eli’s Comin'” and “Wedding Bell Blues.”
Even so, “Blue Eyed Soul” provides several memorable, individual moments. Nancy Erickson sings a deep, throaty version of “No Easy Way Down”; Keely Nicole Busteed’s honeyed voice neatly suits “The Look of Love”; and the entire quartet attains an aptly swaying beat and telling harmonizations on “Some of Your Lovin’.”
With a little more vocal contrast and lot less shouting, these singers will go a long way toward illuminating Springfield’s art. Certainly Allison Bazarko’s deft vocal arrangements and Dan Stetzel’s characteristically intelligent pianism take this show halfway there.
———-
hreich@tribune.com
“Blue Eyed Soul: The Music of Dusty Springfield” plays at 10:30 p.m. Fridays; $22; Davenport’s, 1383 N. Milwaukee Ave.; 773-278-1830.
