Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

The play takes place in early March of 1927 at a Chicago recording studio. Wilson describes the Chicago of the period as “a rough city, a bruising city, a city of millionaires and derelicts, gangsters and roughhouse dandies, whores and Irish grandmothers” (5). It begins after lunch:

[O]n the city’s Southside, sleepy-eyed Negroes move lazily toward their small cold-water flats and rented rooms to await the onslaught of the night, which will find them crowded in the bars and juke joints both dazed and dazzling in their rapport with life. It is with these Negroes that our concern lies most heavily: their values, their attitudes, and particularly their music(5). 

Although Wilson calls this music “hard to define” (5), he is talking about the blues. At the beginning of Act I, Irvin and Sturdyvant, who are both white, set up the recording studio in preparation for Ma Rainey and her band. Sturdyvant, the studio owner and producer, tells Irvin, Ma Rainey’s manager, to keep the singer under control, warning him that he’s not “putting up with any shenanigans” (10). Irvin, who “prides himself on his knowledge of blacks and his ability to deal with them” (9) agrees.

Sturdyvant carps about the last time Ma Rainey recorded at his studio, when she raised issues about the song list, complained of a sore throat, and threatened to sue after tripping over a microphone wire. Irvin reassures him that this time will be different. According to Sturdyvant, the music business is changing and the last album he released didn’t sell well enough. He reminds Irvin once again to control the singer before exiting into the booth. Most of the band members enter: Cutler, who plays guitar and trombone and leads the band; Slow Drag, the bass player; and Toledo, the pianist. Ma Rainey and the horn player, Levee, are still missing. Reassuring Sturdyvant once again that everything is under control, Irvin takes the musicians to the band room so that they can rehearse. As they go through the set list, Cutler worries that the songs aren’t the ones that Ma Rainey is expecting. Cutler notes that Levee, the trumpet player, was supposed to arrive at one. According to Slow Drag, he won four dollars from Cutler shooting craps the previous night and is likely out spending it on a pair of shoes to impress a woman who rejected him. 

As the men pass around a bottle of bourbon, Levee arrives, new shoes in hand. Cutler urges the rest of the men to start rehearsing and Slow Drag agrees, pointing out that their last session took “all day and half the night” (15). Levee comments that the studio has changed, and Toledo muses, “Everything changing all the time. Even the air you breathing change” (15). The men bicker about the music, as Levee wants to produce art and the other men just want to be paid. Levee tells the men that he sent some of his music to Sturdyvant and that he has agreed to record his songs once Levee assembles a band. Cutler asserts, “Well, until you get your own band and can play what you want, you just play the piece and stop complaining. I told you when you came on here, this ain’t none of them hot bands. This is an accompaniment band. You play Ma’s music when you here” (18). Levee replies, “I got sense enough to know that. Hell, I can look at you all and see what kind of band it is” (18). Toledo retorts that Levee can’t even spell music, and Levee bets a dollar that he can. He loses when he spells M-U-S-I-K, but when the other men can’t confirm that Toledo is correct and that music is spelled with a C, he gives Levee his dollar back. 

Slow Drag suggests that they rehearse, and Cutler rolls a joint. Levee complains that they’ve played the songs enough and don’t need practice. The men argue again. Slow Drag tries to convince Cutler to share his weed, and Toledo, the most educated member of the group, refers to Slow Drag’s tactics as African, as “naming all those things you and Cutler done together is like trying to solicit some reefer based on a bond of kinship” (22-23). Slow Drag calls this “nonsense” (23), but Cutler, intrigued by Toledo’s assertion, offers the joint to Slow Drag. Laughing, they start to rehearse the song “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” but Levee stops them. He claims that they are supposed to play his version of the song. The men argue again, this time about which version of the song they ought to rehearse. Finally, they decide to let Irvin settle the matter, and they rehearse the song “Hear Me Talking to You” in the meantime, with Slow Drag singing Ma Rainey’s part. Irvin interrupts to ask the men if they know when Ma will arrive. Cutler claims that she will be there in time to rehearse. Irvin confirms that they will be recording Levee’s arrangement of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” then exits. 

Levee begins to gloat, but Cutler declares, “Levee, the sooner you understand it ain’t what you say, or what Mr. Irvin say… it’s what Ma say that counts” (26). Levee disagrees, and Cutler irritably tells the band to rehearse Levee’s version. Levee attempts to direct the men, but Cutler says, “When you get your own band… then you tell them that nonsense. We know how to play the piece. I was playing music before you was born” (28). Slow Drag stops to replace a string on his bass, stepping on Levee’s new shoes as he crosses. Angrily, Levee shines his shoes as Cutler mocks him for spending so much money on them. Toledo argues, “That’s the trouble with colored folks… always wanna have a good time. Good times done got more niggers killed than God got ways to count. What the hell having a good time mean? That’s what I wanna know” (30). When Cutler contends that people have always had a good time and would always have a good time, Toledo replies, “Yeah, but what else they gonna do? Ain’t nobody talking about making the lot of the colored man better for him here in America” (30). Slow Drag joins the argument, asserting that fun makes life worth living. Levee accuses Toledo of “talking all them high-falutin ideas about making a better world for the colored man” (31) without taking any action himself. Toledo explains that he’s talking about all black men, not each individual one. 

Cutler calls Levee a fool, and Toledo calls Levee the devil. Slow Drag interjects, telling a story about a man he knew who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for wealth. According to Slow Drag, the man killed another man, but the judge set him free. Cutler asks what happened to him, since “a man who, as you say, done sold his soul to the devil is bound to come to a bad end” (34). Slow Drag answers, “I don’t know about that. The devil’s strong. The devil ain’t no pushover” (34). Slow Drag claims that the man was last seen offering 100-dollar bills to men in exchange for their souls. Levee exclaims, “I sure wish I knew where he went. He wouldn’t have to convince me long. Hell, I’d even help him sign people up” (34). Cutler warns Levee that God will strike him down for saying that, and Levee replies, “Oh, shit! God don’t mean nothing to me. Let him strike me!” (34).

There is a buzzer, and Irvin tells the band that the food he ordered for them has arrived. In the studio, Sturdyvant pressures Irvin because Ma has not yet shown up. Irvin is questioning Toledo about Ma’s whereabouts when she enters, accompanied by Dussie Mae, Sylvester, and a policeman. Ma Rainey orders Irvin to tell the policeman who she is. Irvin does so, inquiring as to why the officer is present. He tells Irvin that she has been charged with assault and battery. Sylvester, Ma’s nephew, was driving her car, although the policeman is skeptical that the car belongs to her. According to the police officer, Sylvester ran a stoplight and hit another car, but Sylvester, with a stutter, claims that the other car hit him. While the policeman was “calling a paddy wagon to haul them to the station” (38), Ma, Sylvester, and Dussie Mae attempted to leave in a cab. The officer claims that Ma pushed the cabbie to the ground when he explained that he was waiting for a fare, but Ma, Sylvester, and Dussie Mae claim that he simply fell down after refusing to drive them because they are black. Irvin takes the policeman aside.

Sturdyvant pursues Ma, asking what happened, but Ma refuses to deal with him. Irvin bribes the officer to drop the charges, and the policeman exits. Ma begins to complain about the cold in the studio and demands that her car be repaired right away, and Irvin promises to take care of it. Back in the band room, Levee tells Slow Drag about a place in New Orleans called Lula White’s, where “they got some gals in there just won’t wait!” (41). He once saw a man killed there for “grabbing one of the gals wrong” (41-42) and suggests that he take Slow Drag there. Cutler insists that Slow Drag has no trouble finding women. He tells a story about a man who pulled a knife on Slow Drag once for dancing with his woman. Slow Drag simply told the man that he was trying to help the woman win money to buy him a watch. Toledo brings in the sandwiches Irvin ordered and tells the others about the policeman upstairs. The men argue again when Levee takes two sandwiches. Discussion of leftover food leads Toledo to explain how black men are the leftovers of history, who “done went and filled the white man’s belly and now he’s full and tired and wants you to get out the way and let him be by himself” (45). As leftovers, Toledo argues, they have to decide what to do with themselves. The rest of the band members don’t understand his metaphor.

After more arguing, the band begins to rehearse. Upstairs, Ma Rainey rubs her feet and sings to herself. She complains to Dussie Mae that after all of the hurrying, she is now waiting for everyone to get started. Ma promises Dussie Mae some new clothes so that she can look nice when she goes with Ma on tour. Ma tells Sylvester that she will tell Irvin to introduce him to the band so that they can show him the part he’ll play, and he can send the money he earns home to his mother. As the band rehearses Levee’s version of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Irvin enters and tells Ma that her car will be ready today. Hearing the band, Ma tells Irvin that she does not like Levee’s arrangement of the song and insists on doing it her way. Irvin tries to convince her otherwise, claiming, “it’s more what the people want” (49), but Ma refuses. Irvin gives in, and Ma takes her nephew downstairs to meet the band, announcing, “He’s gonna do the voice intro on the ‘Black Bottom’ song using the old version” (50). Levee protests, but Ma shuts him down, exiting.

Levee complains angrily, and Cutler responds, “Ma says what to play! Not you! You ain’t here to be doing no creating. Your job is to play whatever Ma says!” (51). Levee threatens to quit, but the group ignores him. Cutler teaches Sylvester the voiceover, but Sylvester can’t say it without stuttering. Levee mocks him, but the rest of the band, recognizing that he is Ma’s nephew, continues the rehearsal. Sturdyvant enters and asks Levee the song he’s writing and promises to talk Levee’s music soon. The band taunts Levee for falling all over himself to be respectful toward Sturdyvant, suggesting that Levee is afraid of him. Levee defends himself, becoming upset, and Slow Drag insists that they are just teasing him. Levee declares, “You don’t know nothing about me. You don’t know Levee. You don’t know nothing about what kind of blood I got! What kind of heart I got beating in here!” (54). He tells the rest of the band about a gang of white men who raped his mother when Levee was 8 years old. Levee’s father had purchased farmland, angering those who called him “uppity” (54). While Levee’s father was planting in the field, the rapists came in and grabbed his mother while she was cooking. Levee tried to attack them with a knife, but one of the men cut him with it, leaving a deep scar. Upon learning what had happened, his father sold the land to one of the men. He moved Levee and his mother in with relatives then returned to stalk the rapists, killing four out of eight or nine before he was caught and lynched. Levee reasserts that he is not afraid, stating, “I can smile and say ‘yessir’ to whoever I please. I got time coming to me. You just leave Levee alone about the white man” (56). Slow Drag begins to sing and play his bass as the act ends.