Show Them The Money

When one looks at the history of Western music, one factor becomes crystal clear. The reason such classical art forms as chamber music, symphony, and opera have remained popular for centuries has a great deal to do with subsidies from royal patrons, the advent of the printing press and the way it helped music spread from city to city.

In many ways, light opera (or operetta) took hold in the 19th century as a form of popular entertainment that led to the further development of musical theatre. Nevertheless, racism has had a strong impact on the working environments of many African Americans who subsequently became cultural heroes. Singers like Paul Robeson, Lena Horne, and Marian Anderson encountered cruel cultural barriers to their success. Athletes like Jack Johnson, Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson inspired millions of Americans though they endured endless insults because of their race.

Based on Edna Ferber's popular novel, Jerome Kern's 1927 musical, Show Boat, was the first to have a complex plot that included scenes about miscegenation (at the time of its premiere, seating in the Ziegfeld Theatre was still segregated). Meanwhile, the rising popularity of radio helped to feed a growing hunger for the revolutionary sounds of jazz and blues.

Though documentation of opera's 400-year history can be found in many libraries, the history of black culture and black artists was often absent from mass media because some publishers were either unable or unwilling to recognize its commercial value. First published by Victor Hugo Green in 1936, The Negro Motorist Green Book was created to help middle-class African Americans find safe accommodations during their travels. Founded by John J. Johnson in 1945, Ebony magazine was soon joined by Jet in 1951.

According to Wikipedia, a collection of performance spaces known as the Chitlin' Circuit presented entertainment that was often considered to be "by, for, and about black people." Now referred to as "the urban theatre circuit," its audiences helped to make Tyler Perry an extremely popular and wealthy playwright, performer, and filmmaker. Founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. in 1959, Motown Records became a major trendsetter and recording powerhouse. As musician and record producer Don Was (who became president of Blue Note Records in 2012) notes:

"In the ’60s there was a Blue Note sound. You could put the needle down and you’d know that it was a Blue Note record before you even knew whose record it was. You can’t do that today, mainly because artists are used to having a little bit more freedom. You can’t tell them who’s going to design their cover for them, you can’t tell them who’s going to mix their record, and you can’t force them to conform to a company sound. They’re all different and I’m proud of all of them. They all add up to a total picture.”

With white supremacists like Donald Trump trying to erase the contributions of notable black and brown talents to America's history, two recent experiences focused on the the importance of artists having the agency to manage their work process as well as some kind of ownership in the way their art is shared with the public.

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In his article entitled "Blue Note Records at 80: Can a Symbol of Jazz’s Past Help Shape Its Future?" Giovanni Russonello explains that:

"The label started as a passion project. Its first stewards, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, were German-Jewish immigrants who had fled the Third Reich and shared a devotion to jazz. Their early recordings came with a manifesto printed on the cover: Jazz, it said, 'is expression and communication, a musical and social manifestation, and Blue Note records are concerned with identifying its impulse, not its sensational and commercial adornments.'"

Poster art for It Must Schwing: The Blue Note Story

Written and directed by Eric Friedler, a new documentary entitled It Must Schwing -- The Blue Note Story was recently screened during the 2019 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. The film includes some clever animation by Tetyana Chernyavska and Rainer Ludwigs along with commentary from such jazz greats as Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Bennie Maupin, and Sheila Jordan.

At the core of the story is the sheer bliss associated with the sounds of jazz that caused two German Jews to leave their homeland and sail to America so they could be closer to the music and the black musicians who inspired them. Upon their arrival in New York in 1939, they were shocked to discover how few record producers were recording the music they loved. For the first three decades after launching Blue Note Records, their label was credited with releasing most of the avant-garde jazz that had been recorded in the United States.

Jazz trumpeter Kurz Inhalt

Despite their limited resources, Lion and Wolff recorded black artists and, for the first time, photographed many now-legendary musicians for their album covers. While Alfred was the driving force behind the business, Francis was the quiet introvert whose curious body language let the musicians know when he was having a really good time (when asked for his opinion, Alfred's advice to his artists was simple: "It must schwing!").

Francis Wolff and Alfred Lion, co-founders of Blue Note Records

What set the founders of Blue Note Records apart from many other music producers was that, at a time when black musicians were frequently discriminated against, Lion and Wolff respected their artistry and treated them as family (often going to surprising lengths to help a musician in trouble). Relying primarily on archival photos and stock film footage, the film brilliantly captures the thrill of listening to jazz musicians improvising as they perform (as well as documenting the respect and affection they had for two Germans who spoke English quite poorly, but treated them better than any other record producers).

Jazz saxophonist Benny Maupin

Friedler's documentary clearly demonstrates how the founders of Blue Note Records dedicated themselves exclusively to "recording American jazz music and developing its own unmistakable recording style and sound." Among the artists they "discovered" are such major talents as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, George Benson, and Kenny Burrell.


At a time when many black musicians were being ostracized by record producers, jazz artists were welcomed with open arms by Lion and Wolff. As executive producer Wim Wenders notes:

“Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff founded Blue Note Records with nothing but their enthusiasm and passion. This is a unique and moving documentary that combines inspiring music recordings and first shown archive material with unusually designed animation sequences that describes a deep friendship, a love of music, a belief in equality and the freedom of every person.”

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In 1985 I experienced one of those strange nights at the theatre which is an occupational hazard for critics. I had tickets to see a new play by August Wilson entitled Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (the only installment in Wilson's 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle that does not take place in Pittsburgh). I was on one of those trips that crams ten performances into two-weeks spent in multiple cities. I felt tired, jet lagged, and was probably not in the best of moods.

As sometimes happens to frequent flyers, I got my cultural references confused and entered the theatre with supremely unrealistic expectations. What I was looking forward to was definitely not the show being performed onstage that night. Here's why: According to Wikipedia:

"The Black Bottom dance originated in New Orleans in the first decade of the 20th century. The jazz pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton wrote the tune 'Black Bottom Stomp' (its title referring to the Black Bottom area of Detroit). 'The Original Black Bottom Dance' was printed in 1919. It came from an earlier dance called 'Jacksonville Rounders' Dance' printed in 1907 (the word 'rounder' was a synonym for pimp). Both 'dance-songs' were written by the black pianist, composer, and dancer Perry Bradford and were based on a dance done in Jacksonville, Florida."

"The Black Bottom was well known among semi-rural blacks across the South. The dance was featured in the Harlem show Dinah in 1924 and was then performed by Ann Pennington and Tom Patricola in the musical comedy revue George White's Scandals of 1926 on Broadway, whereupon it became a national craze. The Black Bottom overtook the Charleston in popularity and eventually became the number one social dance."

Instead of a blues number, what kept running through my mind must have been the sequence from 1954's A Star is Born in which Esther Blodgett (Judy Garland) finds herself stuck in a frenzied chorus line performing of the Black Bottom.


Directed by Lloyd Richards, Wilson's play received its world premiere in April 1984 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. I saw it the following year when it was being performed at the Cort Theatre with a cast headed by Theresa Merritt and Charles S. Dutton.


More than three decades have passed since my introduction to Gertrude "Ma Rainey" Pridgett and I have often wondered what it might be like to have a chance to get a fresh look at Wilson's drama. Thankfully, Multi Ethnic Theater is presenting Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the ACT Costume Shop in a production that has been designed and directed by Lewis Campbell.

Susie Butler stars as "Ma" Rainey in the Multi Ethnic
Theatre's production of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

The action takes place in 1927 in a run-down recording studio and its equally run-down practice room in Chicago. Basically, Wilson's drama involves a power struggle between three groups of people. Those with the greatest power are two white men: the owner of the recording studio, Mr. Sturdyvant (Joseph Walters), and Ma Rainey's agent, Irvin (Ric Wenzel). Sturdyvant has little to no patience for Ma's tardiness and petulant behavior. Irvin is constantly trying to make peace between the two warring parties.

When Ma (Susie Butler) finally arrives (late as usual), she is accompanied by her girlfriend, Dussie Mae (Sharon Hill), and her stuttering nephew, Sylvester (Alex Loi), who she has decided should narrate the introduction to her recording of a song entitled "Black Bottom." While Ma can be pegged as a difficult artist, she is no fool. When Sturdyvant tries to bully her, she knows just how to push back (whether that means sending Sylvester out to get her three bottles of Coca Cola that the producer forgot to provide or threatening to walk out of the recording studio knowing full well that she has not yet signed the artist's release which would allow Sturdyvant to sell her recording).

Rainey is also quick to note financial details which might easily be exploited, insisting that her musicians be paid in cash (in those days it was often difficult for an African American to cash a check) and that Sylvester's fee not be taken out of her own.

Ma Rainey and her band in Multi Ethnic Theatre's production of
August Wilson's 1984 drama, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Meanwhile, in the practice room, Rainey's musicians must kill time as they wait for her arrival and ponder what lies ahead for them. The trombonist, Cutler (Vernon Medearis), is an older musician who is the leader of Ma's band. Toledo (Ernest White) is a jazz pianist who surprises his colleagues with the revelation that he is married and has two children. Slow Drag (Gift Harris) is the group's bass player.

Levee (Nathaniel Montgomery) is a trumpet player who aspires to have his own band and become known as a true artist. To that end, he's written a new arrangement for "Black Bottom" which he and Sturdyvant intend to use during the recording session. Unfortunately, neither one of them has shared this information with Ma, who remains adamantly opposed to using anything but the arrangement she has been singing.

Levee has two big problems: First, he's not all that bright (his affectionate overtures to Dussie Mae show a distinct lack of understanding that Dussie Mae and Ma are lovers). Second, he has a temper and lacks impulse control. After Sturdyvant rejects and refuses to publish the songs Levee has written for him, something as inconsequential as Toledo accidentally stepping on one of Levee's new shoes leads to tragic consequences.

Despite a few flubbed lines, I was pleasantly surprised by the strength of Multi-Ethnic Theatre's cast, with top honors going to Susie Butler, Nathaniel Montgomery, and Ernest White. Brandon Hall has a brief appearance as a policeman called to the scene because of the tensions between Ma and Sturdyvant.

Performances of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom continue through September 1 at the ACT Costume Shop (click here for tickets).