Talent for the ages? Keys may be a lock

“Legendary” is one of the most overused words in the showbiz vocabulary. Any actor or singer who has enjoyed more than the customary 15 minutes of fame will have the term applied to them at some point by a publicist, fawning DJ or careless journalist.

But it was hard not to think of the word during Alicia Keys’ marvelously entertaining concert Wednesday at the Kodak Theatre, and not just because the opening act calls himself John Legend.

Keys’ “The Diary” tour transports us back to a truly legendary era in pop culture: the days of the Cotton Club in Harlem, where the greatest black entertainers of the time regularly performed.

Before the curtain opens in Keys’ show, a man in a dapper white suit ambles on stage to explain that Cab Calloway had to cancel his appearance on this 1931 night and that he was unable to get Ella, Lena and even Lady Day to fill in. (There is poetic license at work here: Those three singers were in their teens in 1931.)

No problem, he declares enthusiastically. He has found someone he knows the audience is going to love. She can really sing, he says, “and she’s pretty too.”

The curtain rises and Keys proves him right on both counts. Standing under a giant poster of Calloway, she’s wearing stylish white tuxedo pants, abbreviated top and, in a salute to the era, colorful feathers in her hair.

In keeping with the night’s theme, Keys’ three backup singers perform songs associated with the Cotton Club period (including Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child”) when she’s offstage changing costumes, and Keys sings another of Holiday’s signature tunes, “Good Morning Heartache” as well as turns in a customized rendition of Calloway’s playful phrase “hi-de-hi-de-hi.”

What makes the evening so winning is that Keys never lets the concept overshadow her own instincts and sound. The result is a stylish modernization of the Cotton Club approach -- a point underscored during a lively sequence in which she good-naturedly captures the vibrant razzle-dazzle nature of Cotton Club shows.

As the background trio offers OutKast’s celebrated line “shake it like a Polaroid,” Keys moves her hips so fast it seems as if you are watching doctored film. No wonder she has to sit on a sofa afterward to catch her breath.

Mostly, however, the set is built around songs from Keys’ first two albums, including such hits as “Fallin’ ” and “You Don’t Know My Name,” which was just fine with the enthusiastic audience.

Though her songs employ many of the classic R&B-pop; traits of the ‘60s, she brings her own sensibilities to them. She’s even bold enough to redesign a Prince song, giving an aggressive, boogie-woogie spin to “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore.”

Keys’ songs, most of which she writes or co-writes, deal with a familiar theme -- relationships. But she avoids the simple answers that most pop tunes provide. She stresses the value of relationships rooted in respect and loyalty. Her women are vulnerable and occasionally lose control, but they are generally strong and independent.

Working with a five-piece band as tightly drilled as Prince’s musical corps, Keys accompanied herself on piano on some numbers. Through it all, she was as strong and commanding as the characters in her songs -- an artist whose talent seems as far-reaching as her confidence.

It has only been four years since Keys made her local debut at the Roxy, but she has already sold 10 million albums in the U.S. alone and collected nine Grammys. And, at 24, it seems she’s just getting started. There’s already talk about her making movies.

Some young performers get paralyzed by fame, uncertain about each future step. But Keys thrives on success, constantly setting new goals. She took on the considerable challenge of opening for the flashy Beyonce in arenas last year and virtually blew her off the stage. This time she’s chosen to work in a more intimate setting, and she’s just as dazzling.

It’s a sign of her confidence that Keys would bring John Legend as the support act on the tour. The 26-year-old R&B; singer-songwriter from Ohio is red-hot thanks to a hit debut album, “Get Lifted,” on Kanye West’s new Sony-affiliated label, Getting Out Our Dreams (GOOD).

The fact he chose the stage name John Legend shows that John Stephens is a pretty cocky guy himself -- and his brief, 30-minute set showed you he’s got the goods to back it up.

Legend has a jazzman’s feel for phrasing as a singer and his tunes are deftly constructed, both accessible and a touch intriguing.

The words can be playful, as in “Used to Love U,” where he tells a money-minded ex-girlfriend, “Maybe, baby, Puffy or Jay-Z / Would be better for you / Cuz all I could do was love you.” Elsewhere in the song, he says he’d have to rob somebody to “live like Whitney and Bobby.”

In “She Don’t Have to Know,” he writes what could be just another “cheating” song, but he adds sly twists that make you guess where his real allegiance lies. This slightly off-center touch gives his music a subtle, fresh edge.

Legend is closer to the silky, disciplined style of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway than the more intense, Southern-soul school of Otis Redding and Al Green. But he could just be the one who succeeds D’Angelo as the male leader of the neo-R&B; movement in pop.

And Keys?

Nobody knows if she’ll end up a bona fide legend. But she’s certainly off to a superb start.

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Robert Hilburn, pop music critic for The Times, can be reached at Robert.Hilburn@latimes.com.