Enjoyed watching the film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, based around this real life ‘Mother of the Blues’.
Set in a recording session in 1920’s Chicago with Viola Davis playing the swaggering star of the show: “We’ll be ready to go when Madam says we’re ready to go. And that’s the way it goes around here”.
Chadwick Boseman is brilliant in his final role as the young man with a horn desperate to break out from Rainey’s shadow: “I’m going to get me a band and make me some records. I knows how to play real music, not this jug band s**t”.
It makes a point about how innovative black musicians were disrespected and exploited by the music industry. But Ma Rainey knew it and made life difficult for them.
Showing on Netflix it’s a good watch. See the trailer below.
Derek Webster's Blog World 