Local Musician’s Career Spans 50 Years
Local Musician’s Career Spans 50 Years
By Tia Carol Jones
Theodis Rodgers has been a musician for most of his life. His earliest memory of being exposed to music was his father, who was a vocalist. He remembers that his father sang the Lord’s Prayer at church. He was always enamored with the pianist and organist at church and thought one day he would play those instruments.
Thinking Rogers would follow in his father’s footsteps as an artist, his parents sent him to the Art Institute of Chicago to take art lessons. They sent his sister to piano lessons. In his spare time, he picked up the piano books and started playing piano. He has always been captivated by music.
Rogers’ first professional job as a music director was with Curtis Mayfield at 20-years old. He directed Mayfield’s 1980 tour. After that, he was the music director for the Ebony Fashion Fair Fashion Show for more than 20 years.
He described it as being similar to a Broadway production. He’s traveled with Ramsey Lewis as a featured keyboardist, as well as performed in radio and television commercials. Having his organ trio perform in the 2023 Chicago Jazz Festival is something he said was monumental for him.
Rogers is the Music Director for Teatro ZinZanni. The show is a mixture of cabaret, cirque and comedy, with live music, under a Spiegeltent at Cambria Hotel. He said choosing music for the show starts with the production team, once they write the show and get a sense of the direction and storyline, Rogers starts to choose the music that fits that.
“Since we cover, and I enjoy playing different genres of music, I’ll just go through and create a playlist with things I think will work for the show,” he said.
Rogers said it takes a couple of weeks for him to get the music together. He said over the last three years, he’s had the opportunity to work with some fabulous vocalists, notably Liv Warfield. He said the key to the new iteration of the show is incorporating more Chicago talent into the show. Simone Green and Sa’Rayah have also been part of the Teatro ZinZanni cast.
Rogers said Teatro ZinZanni changes almost every week. In the last year, there have been several iterations of the production. He said they keep it fresh by trying new things. He said the performers are always tweaking their performances and he is tweaking the music to ensure it stays exciting. His expertise has been in his ability to cover all the different genres.
“I consider myself to be a Jazz pianist, but I just love all different styles of music. So, because of my experience of doing that, I keep the music fresh by being able to pull from all of those different genres,” he said.
Rogers said his love of music is what makes him continue to perform after 50 years. He said music is his source of joy, it makes him happy. He said that the key to life is that whatever makes you happy is what you should pursue. He said music is something that he would never retire from.
“It keeps you young and viable and I feel like what I do, it’s important,” he said.
Rogers is part of Black Voices in Cabaret, which brings together vocalists in the city of Chicago to perform. The next show is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10th, at the Nathan Manilow Theatre, located at 410 Lakewood Blvd., in Forest Park, Ill.
For more information about Theodis Rogers, visit theojazzmusic.com.
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