Branford Marsalis - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Soundtrack

The Guardian 0

Marsalis’s film soundtrack is an impeccable recreation of Ma Rainey’s studio sessions

August Wilson’s 1982 play, and the 2020 Netflix film, are about a lot more than music, but Gertude “Ma” Rainey (“Mother of the Blues”) was a real person, and the action takes place around what was a real recording session. Music, and how it’s treated, is the basic metaphor here, so music is an important accompaniment to the story. In this case – like the clothes, the cars and the surrounding scene – it must also persuade us that we are in Chicago in 1927.