Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is one of those rare films with only one major setting: a Chicago recording studio in 1927. The entire film, and the play it was based on, tells the story of four backing musicians waiting for Madame “Ma” Rainey (Viola Davis) to arrive and cut some sides. According to the label on the 78, Rainey’s 1927 recording of “’Ma’ Rainey’s Black Bottom” and her remake of “Moonshine Blues” of that year was done by “Ma” Rainey and her Georgia Jazz Band.
The Musicians
There are no session notes on the musicians who played on the title song of the Netflix film. Indeed, when Den of Geek sat down with the cast of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom actor Glynn Turman told us, “We found photographs of her band members, but that was the closest and most detailed information that we had. Not so much as any particular...
The Musicians
There are no session notes on the musicians who played on the title song of the Netflix film. Indeed, when Den of Geek sat down with the cast of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom actor Glynn Turman told us, “We found photographs of her band members, but that was the closest and most detailed information that we had. Not so much as any particular...
- 12/22/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
By Ben Collins
The primary complaint amongst "Treme" watchers is that, lost in all of the culture-documenting and dense symbolism, there hasn't been the kind of action that captivated viewers of director David Simon's previous hit "The Wire." That argument can't be made for "Shame, Shame, Shame," the series' fifth episode. But even with all of that action, it still had a telling and foreboding soundtrack.
"Shame, Shame, Shame (Redux)" by Steve Zahn (as Davis) on vocals, Kermit Ruffins on trumpet, Ben Ellman on sax, et. al. (Originally by Smiley Lewis)
There's been a lot of trepidation for many viewers to get behind Zahn's character Davis. Reviews of the show call him too bumbling to be as well-respected as he is viewed in the community, or too patently unlikable to be the only character who actively bridges the show's cavernous race gap (and doesn't just talk about it). The...
The primary complaint amongst "Treme" watchers is that, lost in all of the culture-documenting and dense symbolism, there hasn't been the kind of action that captivated viewers of director David Simon's previous hit "The Wire." That argument can't be made for "Shame, Shame, Shame," the series' fifth episode. But even with all of that action, it still had a telling and foreboding soundtrack.
"Shame, Shame, Shame (Redux)" by Steve Zahn (as Davis) on vocals, Kermit Ruffins on trumpet, Ben Ellman on sax, et. al. (Originally by Smiley Lewis)
There's been a lot of trepidation for many viewers to get behind Zahn's character Davis. Reviews of the show call him too bumbling to be as well-respected as he is viewed in the community, or too patently unlikable to be the only character who actively bridges the show's cavernous race gap (and doesn't just talk about it). The...
- 5/10/2010
- by MTV News
- MTV Newsroom
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