THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 TAG: 9606190078
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 100 lines
THE FRIGIDAIRE figures in the professional and personal life of Marcia Ball.
It's where her manager posts the day's schedule - interview times and such. And it's where the highly regarded blueswoman is spending a morning off during the busy summer festival season.
``All in all, you won't find me too far from a refrigerator,'' said Ball, who performs at the Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food Festival this weekend at Norfolk's Town Point Park. ``If you had called me five minutes ago, I would have been up to my neck cleaning it out.
``People thought Loretta Lynn cleaned her bathtubs as an antidote to the stress of the road. She left (husband) Mooney home with the twins, and those tubs were a mess. She did it because she needed to.''
Because she needed to.
The same applies to Ball's no-nonsense approach to the blues.
Born in Orange, Texas, and raised across the state line in Vinton, La., she grew up on a heady gumbo of R&B, jazz, rock, rhumbas and New Orleans second-line rhythms. Ball was 13 when she saw Irma Thomas in concert. The Crescent City's piano gods - Professor Longhair resonates in her playing - have never lost their hold.
``That's the deal about the blues,'' she said. ``I intentionally picked it because it comes most naturally to me. The piano players' line of work is so rich a legacy to learn from. It just moves me more than jazz. Jazz is something to aspire to, but I really crave a backbeat.
``I'm always trying to be a better piano player, so I still listen to a lot of blues - Fess, Dr. John, Otis Spahn, Ray Charles and, for pure soulful inspiration, a lot of R.L. Burnside and J.B. Lenoir.
``I haven't departed, really. That's why my records keep coming out.''
Ball built a rep on her considerable keyboard prowess, but she has evolved as a singer/songwriter. She attributes that in part to living in Austin, Texas. It's been home since 1970, before the city became the mecca it is today.
``You don't live in a town with Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and Lucinda Williams and not come up with some meaningful damn lyrics,'' she said.
Rolling Stone took note in a review of her 1994 album, ``Blue House,'' her sixth for Rounder, saying: ``Ball has developed a signature style so transparently sincere that it seems like a window to her soul.''
Another review had a different take: ``Ball is a fine songwriter and an experienced roadhouse vocalist. But foremost, she's a great roll and swing piano player.''
``I hope I'm all those things,'' Ball said. ``My friend and I were talking about that the other day, about how people who only play piano are considered virtuosos. But piano players who sing - and I'm not dissing anybody - a lot of times only become as good an instrumentalist as we need to be to accompany ourselves.''
Her new album, due in the fall, won't be a stylistic departure from ``Blue House's'' ballads and roadhouse rave-ups. But, as the producer, Ball's trying something different, spreading the recording out instead of squeezing it into a few weeks.
``A lot of times, when I've done a record all at once, I've spent all my time directing the band, playing the piano, making sure the tracks go down right,'' she said.'' That lasts eight hours, and then I'm supposed to sing? I'm ragged.
``There's not much time for retrospection or serious consideration of what direction you're going in. Everybody has a formula, a way to do things. I haven't had the experience to say I've done everything.
``I hope it turns out to be a really good blues album. That's my ambition. We've always tried every time to get a little better at what we do.''
In the meantime, Ball, a regular at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival since 1978, will be sticking to a familiar summer itinerary, headlining her own gigs and playing festivals on both coasts and the Midwest.
``In five years, I'd like to achieve living-legend status,'' she said, laughing. ``To be the one that they think of when they need a woman who plays piano and sings the blues.
``As long as I can get up on a stage, I'm going to play the blues. The blues allow you to age and mellow and improve until you keel over.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color file photos
[Marcia Ball]
[The Neville Brothers...]
Color file photo By Philip Gould
[Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie....]
[Side Bar]
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Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food Festival: Complete Schedule
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