Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Most of my readers know that I’m a big fan of Blues and Jazz. I’m especially fond of the Blues of the 1920s. So I was excited to learn of the upcoming film on Netflix about the “mother of the blues” Ma Rainey.

Ma Rainey

 Ma Rainey was born Gertrude Pridgett on April 26, 1886 in Columbus, Georgia, although some sources place her birth in 1882 in Alabama. Little is known about her childhood. She first appeared in the public at 14 in a local talent show called “Bunch of Blackberries” at the Springer Opera House in Columbus. In February 1904 she married William Rainey, a vaudeville performer known as Pa Rainey, and for several years they toured with African American minstrel groups as a song-and-dance team.

In 1902, in a small Missouri town, she first heard the sort of music that was to become known as the blues. Ma Rainey, as she was known, began singing blues songs and contributed greatly to the evolution of the form and to the growth of its popularity. In her travels she appeared with jazz and jug bands throughout the South. While with the Tolliver’s Circus and Musical Extravaganza troupe, she exerted a direct influence on young Bessie Smith. Her deep contralto voice, sometimes verging on harshness, was a powerful instrument with which to convey the depth of her songs of everyday life and emotion, and she was renowned for her flamboyant performances.

In 1923 Ma Rainey made her first phonograph recordings for the Paramount company. Over a five-year span she recorded some 92 songs for Paramount—including “See See Rider,” “Prove It on Me,” “Blues Oh Blues,” “Sleep Talking,” “Oh Papa Blues,” “Trust No Man,” “Slave to the Blues,” “New Boweavil Blues,” and “Slow Driving Moan”—that later became the only permanent record of one of the most influential popular musical artists of her time. She continued to sing in public into the 1930s.

In addition to being a pioneer in Blues and black women artists, Ma Rainey is known as a pioneer in LGBTQA rights. Although most of Rainey's songs that mention sexuality refer to love affairs with men, some of her lyrics contain references to lesbianism or bisexuality, such as the 1928 song "Prove It on Me":

    They said I do it, ain't nobody caught me.
    Sure got to prove it on me.
    Went out last night with a crowd of my friends.
    They must've been women, 'cause I don't like no men.

According to the website queerculturalcenter.org, the lyrics refer to an incident in 1925 in which Rainey was "arrested for taking part in an orgy at [her] home involving women in her chorus." The political activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis noted that "'Prove It on Me' is a cultural precursor to the lesbian cultural movement of the 1970s, which began to crystallize around the performance and recording of lesbian-affirming songs."

Towards the end of the 1920s, live vaudeville went into decline, being replaced by radio and recordings. Rainey's career was not immediately affected; she continued recording for Paramount and earned enough money from touring to buy a bus with her name on it. In 1928, she worked with Dorsey again and recorded 20 songs, before Paramount terminated her contract. Her style of blues was no longer considered fashionable by the label.

In 1935, Rainey returned to her hometown, Columbus, Georgia, where she ran three theatres, the Lyric, the Airdrome, and the Liberty Theatre until her death. She died of a heart attack in 1939, at the age of 53 (or 57, according to the research of Bob Eagle), in Rome, Georgia.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a film directed by George C. Wolfe and written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, based on the play of the same name by August Wilson. Produced by Denzel Washington, Todd Black and Dany Wolf, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom centers on a fateful recording session of Ma Rainey in 1927 Chicago. It stars Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman (in his final film role), with Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo and Michael Potts in supporting roles.

Wikipedia describes its premise as,
“Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago as a band of musicians await trailblazing performer, the legendary "Mother of the Blues," Ma Rainey (Viola Davis). Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music. As the band waits in the studio's claustrophobic rehearsal room, ambitious trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman) – who has an eye for Ma's girlfriend and is determined to stake his own claim on the music industry – spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories, truths, and lies that will forever change the course of their lives.”

 

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom promises to be a great film. It’s scheduled to be released on December 18, 2020, on Netflix.