POP MUSIC REVIEW : Roomful of Blues Blows the Roof Off

When Roomful of Blues rolled through the Coach House last February, the band had recently installed singer (Sugar) Ray Norcia, a good-sounding dandy sporting shades and an Edd (Kookie) Byrnes look. Appropriately, the band then put the emphasis on the roots-rock portion of their boogie-bop-soul hybrid. As usual, they took the roof of the place.

Wednesday, before a decidedly smaller audience than turned out last time, the 10-piece ensemble was back, this time working a set strongly anchored in the blues. Norcia, his hair less oiled, his look more casual, assumed the role of Chicago blues man, harmonica in hand and ready to blow. This time his voice seemed looser, his phrasing more relaxed, his tone more working-class than sophomore-class. The band behind him was tight and polished, without being stiff. And, yes, they blew the roof off the place.

There were few reminders of the previous performance, not counting tenor saxophonist Greg Piccolo’s trademark beret and the fact that drummer John Rossi still chews on a stogie while he plays.

As before, guitarist Chris Vachon took a long, potent solo on a funky-town shuffle backed by just the rhythm section. His attack was richer this time around, filled with clipped-chord passages and wiry, single-note runs that left little room for breath. The effort not only brought a good part of the crowd to its feet early in the set, it also got a few up standing on their chairs.

Piccolo took over vocal duties on a trio of tunes, most notably Solomon Burke’s “Cry to Me,” in which his variations-on-a-theme close brought strong echoes from the brass. For the most part, his singing was more direct than Norcia’s and strongly propulsive, as on “Reelin’ and Rockin,’ ” which he drove like a 17-year-old in a roadster. His solo tenor work was invigoratingly raunchy at times.

The five-piece brass section performed well as a unit, adding sharp punctuation and sweet, sometimes melancholy lines on the slower-paced blues. They responded to the refrain of a boogie-paced Big Joe Turner number with choruses of “Down by the Riverside” before releasing Doug James and his baritone for a bumpety-bump series of throaty phrases.

James showed a more thoughtful side on Earl King’s “It All Went Down the Drain,” cutting through the tune’s vamp with a strong show of breath. Other standout efforts from the section included trumpeter Bobby Enos’ use of the plunger mute to call up Cootie Williams-style cries and growls, and Rich Lataille’s boppish alto work.

Opening blues act Brady and Siegel played country mouse to Roomful’s urban rodent. The five-piece band worked a short set of tunes, mostly written by rhythm guitarist-singer Will Brady and lead guitarist Jodi Siegel. Brady’s vocals--he did a passable job on his own “Money Talks”--took second seat to Siegel’s plaintive, no-nonsense singing. Her sound worked especially well in such bad-girl numbers as “Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues” and her own “She’s a Little Devil.”

In addition, Siegel isn’t a bad guitarist. Her slide work beefed up Brady’s “Money Don’t Stop the Show” with lines more slippery than Charles Keating’s. Siegel’s “So Many Rivers to Cross”--covered by Maria Muldaur on her “Heart to Heart” album--found her vocalizing in the same kind of ballsy style that Reba McEntire developed, minus any pretensions. Though tempos lagged at times, usually on slower numbers, the band shows promise. Their roadhouse sound was a good complement to Roomful’s party-band ways.