Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, Revised Third Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: August Wilson
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: March, 1927
- Setting: A recording studio in Chicago, Illinois
- Genres: Social realism, Drama, Psychological drama
- Subjects: African Americans, Discrimination, Power, personal or social, 1920’s, Chicago, Singing or singers, Jazz music, Fame, Ambition, Success or failure
- Locales: Chicago, IL
Characters Discussed
Levee, the trumpet player in the band of black musicians that accompanies blues singer Ma Rainey. Not well educated but stylish, flamboyant, brash, energetic, and ambitious, Levee is in his early thirties and is the youngest of the musicians. Scorning the conservative musical style favored by Ma Rainey, Levee plays in a new, improvisational jazz style and dreams about forming his own band. He offers his own arrangements and songs to Sturdyvant, the white owner of the run-down Chicago recording studio, but Ma insists on her own arrangements. Anxious to...
[The entire page is 1061 words long]
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