Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart bring their Floetry back to Philly

After about a decade apart, British imports and onetime Philadelphians Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart reunited last year as Floetry and began a tour last year that brought the neo-soul-star reunion to Philadelphia. Popular demand has kept them together and brings them back, to TLA on Wednesday, which is also "Weed Day."

"Yeah, that date's not lost on me," Ambrosius says with a hearty laugh about the potcentric holiday. "I'll not imbibe, but will certainly enjoy the haze."

Ambrosius - an always playful, swaggering presence - seemed the least likely artist for going backward toward anything from her past. Along with a soulful solo career that yielded stirringly adult, sexually proactive, and big-selling albums (2011's Late Nights & Early Mornings, 2014's Friends & Lovers), Ambrosius is a lauded songwriter who co-penned Michael Jackson's best latter-day ballad, "Butterflies." She has also collaborated with Robert Glasper, Talib Kweli, and, most famously, Dr. Dre.

The two worked together on music for the film Straight Outta Compton - tracks such as "Darkside/Gone," "Satisfaction," and "Genocide" (the latter penned with Kendrick Lamar). "Dre's absolute genius, there's more where that's come from," Ambrosius says.

Meanwhile, her sultry singing side found itself on sessions for a VP label tribute to late reggae great Dennis Brown, covering his "Have You Ever." Ambrosius got a call from the Brown family and was happy to sing a song that reminded her of her youth, "when I didn't have a job, didn't have to do the dishes, didn't have responsibilities, and could just play." Singing to nothing but a metronome, Ambrosius made the Brown track into a delicious vocal workout worthy of any in her solo catalog - an oeuvre that is stalled, but not stilled, by her current business.

"I have so many tracks done, music with Terrace Martin, working with Philly's Andre Harris - go back to the cooks that made the Marsha cookie," she says giggling. "I don't know when that will happen. That, too, comes down to timing."

So did reuniting with her childhood poet-pal Stewart, with whom she came to America from the UK and released three albums, from 2002 to 2005, steeped in the neo-soul hip-hop sound of late-20th-century Philadelphia culture. Floetry reunited due to timing, "and not about missing anything," Ambrosius said. "This, Floetry, was something we used to do. That was great. I'm big on so many of the reunions that are coming up that touch upon the past because I'm a fan. ... Current events make you think, 'Why not?' Our fans seem to feel about us like I do about A Tribe Called Quest. This is for the people, never losing sight of why you started. So we grew up a little bit - apart and together - and we're doing it."

Right now, Ambrosius plans to keep doing it, sticking to the smart, sultry brand of jazzy, harmonious R&B they've made into new classics. Yes, they've expanded the breadth of older material, and yes, there is a real possibility of new Floetry material. "There are so many projects out there for me and with me on them that remain in my vaults that when I'm onstage, I don't think about it. ... This is what we do now. Moving forward? Whatever comes."

Floetry, 8 p.m. Wednesday at Theatre of Living Arts, 334 South St. $40. 215-922-1011, venue.tlaphilly.com.