There have been some memorable highlights: Bob Dylan saw her two nights in a row when she sang at the Pump Room, bought one of her CDs (asking for her autograph) and bought for her a red wine; John Malkovich bought a bunch of her CDs and gave them as gifts to some of his Steppenwolf pals; and she has performed with so many greats, including Ira Sullivan, Paul Wertico and Howard Levy.

An ebullient personality, she will tell you: “I love writing and singing my own tunes and I enjoy greatly taking non-jazz compositions and creating a jazz treatment for them. The words or melody alone will not necessarily define the genre, the expression of those things is the key ingredient.”

And so, a recent Tuesday night at Sayat Nova and the owner of the restaurant and the building in which it sits is saying that for a decade on Saturday nights the room used to feature music spun by international deejays and that “it attracted a crowd of its own.”

“But you can’t get this anyplace else,” says Roupen Demirdjian, and there is no argument, whether he is talking about the music or the restaurant or the combination of both. He is a genial and energetic owner/host, as was his father, Arsen, who died in 2013. Roupen jumps up from his stool the moment someone pushes through the restaurant’s doors, smiling in greeting friends and strangers. That is how he met McDougald when she strolled in quite by accident one afternoon more than a year ago.

“Tuesdays have been special ever since,” he says.

People arrive in a steady stream this night, many of them having made this room and its food and drinks and music a part of their weekly diet. Some perch on the 10 stools that front the small bar. They sip drinks. Others are spread out at tables or tucked into the seven intimate booths that line a couple of the walls. They eat, they talk but mostly they listen.

“This really is what I consider a perfect listening room,” says McDougald.

She and the other members of her regular quartet (Don Stille on keyboard, Aaron Zachary on bass and Keith Brooks on drums, often joined by special guests — on this night it is trombonist Andy Baker) are at the front of the room, separated from the sidewalks by windows. They play roughly from 6 to 9:30 p.m. but have been known to go deeper into the night. There is no cover charge (www.sayatnovachicago.com) and the food is terrific. The restaurant is not large; it is cozy. The whole scene conspires to create a timeless place, a pleasant and tuneful era.

And so the evening moves on and the songs come in random order according the band and McDougald’s sense of the audience. And so here is “Skylark,” and that is followed by “It’s Almost Like Being in Love,” which is followed by “I Only Have Eyes for You.” The band is tight, together. Her voice fills the room with sound and emotion.

A group of three men, coats and ties and convention lanyards, enters.

“Are we interrupting a private party?” one asks.

“Oh, no,” says Demirdjian. “Join us. You are more than welcome.”

They decide to stay and settle in to eat and listen.

“That is so satisfying, to win over people who didn’t expect anything but a good meal,” McDougald will later say. “There is a lot of politics in the music scene and I know that I can be a polarizing person sometimes. But it is all worth it to me. One night I can be playing with some of the greatest musicians in the world and the next be alone in some tiny room. Or here.”

The three businessmen finish dinner and linger over coffee. There is a break in the music and they pay the check and head toward the door. “We’ll be back,” says one of them to no one in particular. McDougald doesn’t hear that. She is talking to the band. She is laughing.

“After Hours With Rick Kogan” airs 9-11 p.m. Sundays on WGN-AM 720.

Source: Chicago Tribune