One From the Heart : Singers Don and Alicia Cunningham love jazz so much, they’ve been fired for it.

Their voices flying at breakneck speed over a classic such as Dizzy Gillespie’s “Shaw Nuff” or Horace Silver’s “Quicksilver,” Don and Alicia Cunningham are two of the most exciting, sophisticated singers in jazz.

“Jazz is our heart, and we love it,” says Alicia Cunningham.

But the couple, who have been working together since 1969 and who were married in 1979, don’t always sing jazz. These days, the Cunninghams appear regularly in hotels--traveling to Brazil, Japan and, most recently, Arizona, where the lounges in hostelries there demand a varied repertoire, with some jazz included.

“We’ve found that mass audiences will accept jazz as long as the tunes are familiar,” says Don Cunningham.

From the ‘70s through the mid-’80s, their outlets were even more commercially oriented.

Says Alicia Cunningham, “I’d do Streisand medleys, such as tunes from ‘Funny Girl.’ “Still, we’d do jazz, too much jazz, and get fired for it,” she says with a laugh.

The Cunninghams won’t have to worry about overdoing their jazz side when they make a rare local appearance tonight and Saturday at Chadney’s in Burbank. There, the pair will come in as a trio, with Alicia playing piano, Don working out on congas and alto saxophone, and Leslie Baker on bass. Their jazz-based program should have something for everyone, says Dennis Duke, who books Chadney’s.

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One way the singers will get a crowd is with their high-wire-type scat singing--singing syllables in jazz phrases as if the vocalist is a horn. It’s an art the Cunninghams never practice, so they’ll be fresh and inventive when they do. Alicia says sometimes she makes mistakes, but so what?

“I have to grow and learn, and if it means falling on my face, I’ll do it,” she says. Though the Cunninghams enjoy working sometimes with a full rhythm section, so they can simply stand in front and sing, they find plenty of appeal in a more economical context.

“It’s more intimate,” says Alicia. “We’ll do things we don’t ordinarily do, like more romantic tunes.”

Working with a trio also allows the pair to demonstrate their musicality, Don says.

“I get to participate more as a pianist, even though I’m not a soloist,” says Alicia.

Don will offer some solid alto saxophone solos, as when he’s featured on “Harlem Nocturne.” “My alto playing is soulful, and it’s me,” he says. “I play within my ability, and don’t go any further. I respect the instrument.”

A jazz singing duo was probably not what either of the Cunninghams planned as a lifelong career. Don, a native of St. Louis who has lived in Los Angeles since 1965, started out as a conga drummer, and Alicia, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, was a classical pianist and singer.

“I started singing in St. Louis because I loved Nat King Cole,” says Don, who went on to land a job playing congas with singer Johnny Mathis from 1958 to 1960, and then led a Latin jazz band playing vibes, both in St. Louis and Los Angeles.

“I got a scholarship to go to Mount St. Mary’s, studying voice,” says Alicia. “But I always loved Ella and Sarah,” referring to singing stars Fitzgerald and Vaughan.

The pair, who have made three albums for Discovery Records, consider themselves their strongest proponents as well as critics.

“We try to keep each other honest, and as long as we do, we’re on the right track,” Alicia says. “But the minute we become too predictable, too packaged, then we better move on to something different. That’s when it becomes stale.”

Where and When What: Don and Alicia Cunningham appear at Chadney’s, 3000 W. Olive St., Burbank.

Hours: 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. tonight and Saturday.

Price: No cover, no minimum.

Call: (818) 843-5333.