New Orleans–style pianist Marcia Ball doesn’t need special guests to validate her rumba-boogie blues. But when Irma Thomas walked into Scullers a week ago Wednesday as Ball was kicking into her second set, her presence (along with husband Emile Jackson) offered what Louisianans call lagniappe, a little something extra. Ball, now a Texan but a Louisiana native, was just settling into Professor Longhair’s “In the Night,” rearranging the loose Fess classic into something more organized, complete with vocal harmonies, when the Thomas party entered, and either her presence or the setting — this was a jazz club, not the usual blues bar — spurred Ball into overdrive.
Ball rarely delivers a bad set, but she can fall back on song recognition, delivering the tune and just a bit of piano before moving on to the next request. She certainly delivered quantity at Scullers — her 10 pm set lasted more then 90 minutes — but her usual mix of R&B and blues was more freewheeling than recent area shows, more rhythm-driven, as she emphasized the boogie-woogie of “Mobile” and let her syncopated piano dance around the straight-ahead pound of “Foreclose on the House of Love.” Did post-Katrina fervor influence her? The slight quaver in her throaty alto as she sang “Find Another Fool” was particularly affecting, despite the volume of Pat Boyack’s otherwise tactful guitar embellishments. And some spirit inspired a swinging take on the Raelettes’ “Bad Water,” a gospel-turned-R&B tune that evoked Katrina, resilience, and, at moments, Thomas’s own “Breakaway.” When Thomas (in town to play the Regattabar) was brought up for “Sing It” from the singers’ 1998 collaboration with Tracy Nelson, their paired joyful delivery rang with defiance. In deference to her guest, whose home and club were flooded, Ball declined to play her customary closer, Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927.” But a kicking “Hot Tamale Baby” that quoted Crescent City greats from Gottschalk to Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack made for a feistier finale, with no regrets.
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