The Nation, December 8th, 1984
American culture contains only so many myths or stories of central, importance, and one of those is surely the story of black music and its fate in the white world. Black musicians invent a certain style, demonstrate its brilliance and get clobbered for their efforts, is roughly how the story goes. You don't see it all that frequently in American literature, but on the stage it is a staple. Several versions have appearqd on and off Broadway in the last year or two alone. There was the revival of Jerome Kern's Showboat from the 1920s, which uses the black music story as an important subtheme....
HighBeam Research, Free Preview: 'Ma Rainey's black bottom. (Cort Theatre, New York) (theater reviews)'... Full Membership required for unlimited access. Free 7-day trial.
Subscribers: HighBeam content is only available to HighBeam subscribers. Click the link above for more information.
