Juneteenth Jamboree – Rag Doll – Classic Blues – Official Video

Описание: Introducing Rag Doll, the hottest all-female classic blues, barrelhouse and boogie-woogie power trio this side of the moon. Don't say we didn't warn you – like a good Habanero pepper, handle with care! Recorded live on February 22, 2020 at Greve Studio, Berlin-Zehlendorf. Käthe von T., voc; Tanja Becker, tb/voc, Amy Protscher, p/perc/voc.
Gladys Bentley was one of the first openly gay women who made their mark on jazz music. Clad in a suit, tie, and top hat, seated at the piano which she played marvelously, she belted out her own raunchy lyrics to well-known tunes to anyone that wanted to hear them. Unfortunately only her early recorded work has been re-issued on CD. Especially her later recordings on the Bronze and Partytime labels are notoriously hard to dig up. If anybody has copies of her versions of "Christopher Columbus", "Over There", "Diddle And Save The World", "Dan McGrew", "Gladys Isn't Gratis", "Vice Versa", "Myrtle Isn't Fertile", "Gone With The Wind", "Lock And Key", and "Abie On The Reservation" (Bronze masters 105-110, Partytime 1104, 1111-1115) and can digitize them for us, please drop us a line!

This tune, on the other hand, is not raunchy at all – it's simply an invitation to a party commemorating the Black National Holiday, June 19th, commemorating the end of slavery in the US in 1865. It took Congress until 2021 to make it a national holiday, though – which in itself speaks volumes.

This is Classic Female Blues in the Bessie Smith tradition, which originated in the "Gilded Age", the Roaring Twenties, during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. The "Empress of the Blues", Bessie Smith, and cohorts of other formidable women blues singers belted out their desires and frustrations to appreciative and sympathetic audiences just as dissatisfied with a society even more pervaded by racism and sexism as today's. Naming the frustration from onstage wasn't the cure, but was uplifting for performer and listener alike, creating a bond and community. We at Rag Doll believe that this time-tested style is still relevant today and warm your soul with a mix of historic repertoire, and original tunes as well as arrangements of well-known songs in that rebellious, take-no-prisoners style of yesteryear.