A Gulf Coast treasure breaks out
Some musicians are blessed with self-explanatory names, monikers that announce their agenda before they even produce a note. Think of the cool concision of Miles Davis, the road-weary swagger of Merle Haggard or the righteous testimony of Solomon Burke.
Add to that list the celebratory funk of Marcia Ball, who in recent years has taken her rightful place as one of the most compelling torchbearers for Gulf Coast R&B. Her irresistible blend of rollicking, two-fisted New Orleans boogie piano, Louisiana swamp rock, and smoldering Texas blues turns every performance into an incipient party, an undulating juke joint-flavored revel, a . . . well, a ball.
That's not to say that she is a one-dimensional good-time gal. Her last studio CD, ''So Many Rivers," which won the 2004 Blues Music Award for contemporary blues album of the year, is the work of a seasoned storyteller, with six original tunes that trace the arc of a relationship from infatuation and comfortable intimacy to poisonous suspicions. Her latest album, ''Down the Road" (Alligator), is a torrid live session that captures Ball with her well-traveled band, featuring guitarist Pat Boyack, drummer Corey Keller, and her bassist of 25 years, Don Bennett.
''Since he's been with me from the beginning, I can pull out an old song and we might not do it great, but we can go after it," says Ball, 56, from her home in Austin. She opens a two-night run at Scullers on Wednesday. ''The other advantage is that he can back a trailer through the eye of a needle, and that comes in handy when you're out there traveling."
Precision driving skills have been less important though, as Ball has become a staple at jazz and blues festivals and performing arts centers. The high-profile gigs are the surest sign that she's breaking out of the blues ghetto.
As is often the case, it's not so much that she's taken her music to another level. Rather, Ball has made a series of savvy business moves. At the same time that she moved from the respected blues label Rounder to Alligator, she joined the roster of the San Francisco-based Rosebud Agency, which also handles high-powered acts such as Charlie Musselwhite, Robert Cray, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Rosebud gave her access to larger venues, and Alligator encouraged her to unleash her blues-drenched balladry.
''She's a person of great intelligence and emotion, and the feeling comes pouring forth in the ballads," says Bruce Iglauer, Alligator's founder and owner. ''She still does a rollicking, uptempo set, but she invades the soul of Irma Thomas on those ballads."
It was Thomas, the legendary New Orleans rhythm and blues singer, who provided Ball's most vivid early inspiration. When she was 13, Ball first saw Thomas perform in New Orleans's Municipal Auditorium.
''She blew my mind," Ball says. ''I think it was the first time I ever saw a woman onstage leading a band, and I know it was the first time I ever saw a pregnant woman leading a band that way."
Years later, Ball and Thomas became close friends, eventually touring together and recording the popular 1998 album ''Sing It!" with Tracy Nelson. In a booking coincidence, Thomas opens a three-night run at the Regattabar on Thursday (someone needs to get these two together when they're in town). Thomas for one isn't surprised that Ball has become a festival headliner.
''As you mature, you learn more about the world around you and that comes out in your song, and that's what's happened with Marcia," says Thomas, 65, from Gonzales, La., where she relocated with her husband after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their house.
Born in the southeast Texas town of Orange, Ball grew up across the border in Vinton, La., in the heart of a musically vibrant region stretched across the Louisiana-Texas border. Ball's music was forged in the traffic between ''all the influences that came from Houston, Bobby Bland, Albert Collins, and Big Mama Thornton, which crossed over to Louisiana, while Fats Domino and Little Richard crossed back," Ball says. ''And it just made this wonderful style of music that people love still."
Ball's lineage gave her musical disposition as big a boost as her location. Raised in a family of confident female pianists, she grew up listening to her ragtime-playing grandmother and an aunt versed in American Songbook standards. After attending Louisiana State University in the late '60s as an English major and playing in the acid rock band Gum, Ball and her first husband took off on a cross-country road trip, intending to settle in San Francisco. Stranded in Austin by car trouble, they quickly discovered the city's thriving music scene and decided to stay.
These days, not even transportation woes can slow Ball down.
