Eclectic Company: Listening To Marcia Ball Is A Religious Experience; So Is Listening to Gospel and to Sean Ardoin & R.O.G.K.

Sometimes we say that listening to a particular musician or a specific concert has been a religious experience. When we say it, we mean not that the music itself is born from or a complement to other religious practices, but rather that the music feels transformative, that it lifts us out of the humdrum of our daily lives, to raise us up to a higher plane. It's a very special experience, and not even musicians who can take us higher can make us feel transported every time we hear them. But today I have to testify that although I've heard her play wondrously, numerous times, in venues ranging from small, sweaty clubs in New Orleans, to big outdoor and indoor concert stages in Lake Charles and elsewhere, that's the way I felt when Marcia Ball played the Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra's Summer Pops Concert a few weeks ago. Lifted.

After visiting maestro William Grimes led the LCSO through his own "The Door to Freedom," Ball's quintet, backed by the Orchestra, paced through thirteen songs they'd rehearsed together, opening with an energetic version of "Sing It (One More Time Like That)," the title track of Ball's trio record with Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson, which I've heard and loved when sung frequently by Thomas at her now-defunct club, the Lion's Den. And of course, the trio's version is really the bomb. But as a crowd-warmer, "Sing It" definitely got the joint jumping, as table-holders all around me sang loudly, and bounced along in time with the band. And that was just the starting bell. Ball dedicated "Foreclose on the House of Love" to the late Audrey Hruschka, dance teacher to several generations of Lake Charlesians, sang "Bucktown," about Hurricane Katrina, and which pays homage to New Orleanians and jazz greats, and Bobby Charles's "Party Town," reminding the crowd that the Abbeville native and former Holly Beach resident gave us "Walkin' To New Orleans," and many other Swamp Pop hits.

Watching Ball's relaxed, swingy playing with the LCSO, I was struck by the deceptive simplicity of her on-stage appearance. Ball is practically a flamingo, all elongated grace and vibrant color, her impossibly long legs crossed and beating time beneath the electric keyboard she plies as deftly, vigorously and effectively as Jerry Lee Lewis ever did, while nevertheless maintaining an elegant and ladylike demeanor in her long strappy dress. Even her head-bopping along with solos by her tight band, including a spectacular pyrotechnical display by sax man Thad Scott, as well as Ball's own keyboard runs and poundings, was contained, exquisite and refined.

"Her Tallness," as her website gently mocks, had a little frog in throat at Summer Pops, but nevertheless drove home all the highlights of "Peace, Love & BBQ," the title track of her 2008 Alligator Records CD (check out all her CDs at www.marciaball.com), and "Where Do You Go," which Ball co-wrote with Nelson, whose soulful R&B, Gospel, country and blues captured my heart thirty years ago, when she was touring the Greenwich Village coffeehouses with her band Mother Earth. "Sing It!" (Rounder Records 1998) and "The Best of Tracy Nelson and Mother Earth" (Reprise/WEA) are both available from Amazon.com.

Ball is a journeywoman musician in the best sense of that word — her clear, strong alto voice riding nicely above her striding, dancing piano keys, equally at home servicing R&B, blues, and soul sounds, mostly in perfectly chosen cover songs. She can be counted on to turn in a masterful performance every time, but some times, she vibrates up in intensity to something truly special. And at the Civic Center, despite its lousy acoustics, and her vocal challenges, she cranked it up just that extra notch. And when she sang about hurricanes, and resilience, and at the close of Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927," there wasn't a dry eye in the house. A religious experience, indeed.

Now I have been moved by purposely religious music since my childhood, when spirituals were taught and sung in my junior high school choir (300 voices, including some basses who'd been left back until their voices changed!), and in the incredible Queens Borough-Wide Chorus (very competitive, 150 voices), that my best friend Barbara (soprano), and I (alto) took a two-hour public transportation ride to each way every Saturday for several years. The Queens chorus sang "Oh Sinner Man," "Swing Low Sweet Chariot," "Children Go Where I Send Thee," and "Mary Don't You Weep," indiscriminately and joyously, whether or not we loved Jesus. Singing those songs left us over-stimulated and replete at the same time.

I love that feeling, and make sure I get a healthy helping each year at the gospel tent at Jazzfest. But we've got homegrown spirit-driven music right here in Lake Charles, too, and I'm especially partial to two local good news singer/writers. My first favorite is Albert "Bobby" King, a former studio singer and vocal arranger who used to back up Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel and Ry Cooder. King, who was one of the first musicians I ever wrote about (in 1981, for the New York Village Voice), sings praise songs at the Refuge Temple out by Chennault where he's been since his return from L.A. 15 or so years ago. He's been writing new gospel music for most of that time, and has self-released a few tracks with a cooking band of local musicians. Any given Sunday you will be welcome to his church, where you can be uplifted by the power and the glory of his band and the Church's incredible choir.

And now there's also Sean Ardoin, the scion of Zydeco royalty, who's about to release his newly finished album, "How Great Is Your Love?" at Christian World (E. Gauthier Road) on August 7th. I have to miss that gig, so Sean dropped by and played me thirteen tracks of pure Christian Zydeco magic in person. Ardoin's always been a special musician, with ears far broader than the genres his Zydeco and pop music have been tied to. When I first heard him, I could tell he'd been listening to soulful gospel musicians like the a capella group Take Six, as well as to the R&B and soul classicists of my adolescence, as those references and influences peeked out of his Zydeco party sounds. Well this astoundingly spiritual album, recorded with an eclectic band of local and national studio musicians, and featuring his son, Little Sean, on a standout number, "Find Me," shows that Ardoin knows how to praise in many musical tongues. Ardoin's new band, Reflections of God's Kingdom, will be at hand on August 7th to take worship music to a place it's never been before. And you should be there or be square. More info about Sean Ardoin & R.O.G.K. is available at www.seanardoin.com.