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Slow Drag
Sturdyvant is a white executive in the music industry. Although it’s never explicitly stated in the play, he seems to own the recording label that puts out Ma Rainey’s music. Despite the fact that he makes his money by selling Black artists’ music, though, he’s quite racist when it comes to interacting with Ma. He tells his associate, Irvin, to keep Ma “in line” during the recording session, condescendingly acting like Ma is an erratic, untrustworthy person. When he tries to lord his power as a white man over Ma, though, she challenges him by threatening to withhold her music. Because Sturdyvant knows he’ll suffer financially if Ma doesn’t let him record her, he acquiesces to her demands. But he’s still quite exploitative of Black musicians, as is evident when he tells Levee that he’ll record his songs but then revokes this offer once Levee gives him the music. Instead of allowing Levee to play his own music, Sturdyvant offers to buy the rights for the songs without actually recording them, meaning that he Sturdyvant can reap 100 percent of the profits if he ever decides to put these songs on an album. These exploitative practices were quite common in the music industry at the time, and they deeply dishearten Levee. Sturdyvant thus plays an integral role in Levee’s violent breakdown at the end of the play.
Sturdyvant Quotes in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
The Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom quotes below are all either spoken by Sturdyvant or refer to Sturdyvant. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1 Quotes
STURDYVANT: I don’t care what she calls herself. I’m not putting up with it. I just want to get her in here...record those songs on that list...and get her out. Just like clockwork, huh?
IRVIN: Like clockwork, Mel. You just stay out of the way and let me handle it.
STURDYVANT: Yeah...yeah...you handled it last time. Remember? She marches in here like she owns the damn place...doesn’t like the songs we picked out...says her throat is sore…doesn’t want to do more than one take...
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Before Ma Rainey and her band arrive at the recording studio, Sturdyvant and Irvin discuss how they plan to make sure the session goes smoothly. Sturdyvant’s comments about Ma are disparaging and condescending, as he talks about her like she’s an unruly, untrustworthy child instead of a professional artist. He even blatantly dismisses her status as a famous musician, telling Irvin that he doesn’t care if she’s the “Mother of the Blues”—a name people actually called Ma Rainey in real life. Instead of showing Ma the respect she deserves as a famous musician, though, Sturdyvant is focused on just one Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor as
STURDYVANT: Irv, that horn player...the one who gave me those songs...is he gonna be here today? Good. I want to hear more of that sound. Times are changing. This is a tricky business now. We’ve got to jazz it up...put in something different. You know, something wild...with a lot of rhythm.
(Pause.)
You know what we put out last time, Irv? We put out garbage last time. It was garbage. I don’t even know why I bother with this anymore.
IRVIN: You did all right last time, Mel. Not as good as you did before, but you did all right.
STURDYVANT: You know how many records we sold in New York? You wanna see the sheet? And you know what’s in New York, Irv? Harlem. Harlem’s in New York, Irv.
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When Sturdyvant and Irvin discuss the music industry before Ma Rainey and her band arrive at the studio, Sturdyvant makes it clear that he’s only interested in putting out records that will make a lot of money. Consequently, he wants to capture whatever musical style is the most popular, and this means changing along with the times The play takes place in Chicago in the 1920s, meaning that it’s set during something of a creative explosion, as Black musicians recorded a number of highly influential blues albums at this time. Meanwhile, though, jazz was also becoming quite popular, especially in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perf
LEVEE: See, I told you! It don’t mean nothing when I say it. You got to wait for Mr. Irvin to say it. Well, I told you the way it is.
CUTLER: Levee, the sooner you understand it ain’t what you say, or what Mr. Irvin say...it’s what Ma say that counts.
SLOW DRAG: Don’t nobody say when it come to Ma. She’s gonna do what she wants to do. Ma says what happens with her.
LEVEE: Hell, the man’s the one putting out the record! He’s gonna put out what he wanna put out!
SLOW DRAG: He’s gonna put out what Ma want him to put out
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When Levee tells Cutler they’re supposed to play his arrangement of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Cutler doesn’t believe him. He therefore asks Irvin which version of the song they should rehearse, and Irvin confirms that he and Sturdyvant want to record Levee’s arrangement. As a result, Levee boasts about being right, but he also criticizes Cutler for only listening to Irvin—despite the fact that Levee himself urged Cutler to ask Irvin in the first place, thinking that this would surely prove that he’s right about which version of the song they’re supposed to play. Regardless, though, Cutler doesn’t care what Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum vo
TOLEDO: It ain’t just me, fool! It’s everybody! What you think…I’m gonna solve the colored man’s problems by myself. I said, we. You understand that? We. That’s every living colored man in the world got to do his share. Got to do his part. I ain’t talking about what I’m gonna do...or what you or Cutler or Slow Drag or anybody else. I’m talking about all of us together. What all of us is gonna do.
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Toledo has already emphasized how important it is to work toward improving Black Americans’ lives. When Levee criticizes him for not actively following his own advice in this regard, though, he argues that he can’t bring about meaningful change on his own. He notes that “everybody” needs to work toward this goal, since it’s unrealistic to think that just one person could possibly bring about actual change when it comes to fighting racism. What Toledo says here emphasizes the importance of unity, as he urges Levee and the other musicians to come together and work toward equality as a collective. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error.
The white man knows you just a leftover. ‘Cause he the one who done the eating and he know what he done ate. But we don’t know that we been took and made history out of. 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. Now, I know what I’m talking about. And if you wanna find out, you just ask Mr. Irvin what he had for supper yesterday. And if he’s an honest white man...which is asking for a whole heap of a lot...he’ll tell you he done ate your black ass and if you please I’m full up with you...so go on and get off the plate and let me eat something else.
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Toledo presents an extended metaphor comparing Black Americans to the “leftovers” from a stew. He talks about how carrots, potatoes, and other vegetables have been ripped out of the ground and tossed into a stew, but he says there’s more food than anyone can eat—these “leftover” vegetables floating in the broth are comparable to Black Americans who have been taken from their ancestral homes in Africa and brought to the United States to be enslaved. Now that slavery is over, Toledo implies, “the white man” has very little use for Black Americans. The overarching idea here is that racist white Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducim
MA RAINEY: I’m gonna tell you something, Irvin...and you go on up there and tell Sturdyvant. What you all say don’t count with me. You understand? Ma listens to her heart. Ma listens to the voice inside her. That’s what counts with Ma. Now, you carry my nephew on down there...tell Cutler he’s gonna do the voice intro on that “Black Bottom” song and that Levee ain’t messing up my song with none of his music shit. Now, if that don’t set right with you and Sturdyvant...then I can carry my black bottom on back down South to my tour, ‘cause I don’t like it up here no ways.
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When Irvin tries to convince Ma to record Levee’s version of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” she doesn’t hesitate to tell him exactly how she feels. Even though she’s a Black woman living in the racist environment of the United States in the 1920s, she’s not afraid to tell Irvin that what he and Sturdyvant want means nothing to her. “What you all say don’t count with me,” she says—a statement that belittles both Irvin and Sturdyvant by implying that they don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to music. By making this implication, Ma reminds Irvin that, at Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim
CUTLER: You talking out your hat. The man come in here, call you a boy, tell you to get up off your ass and rehearse, and you ain’t had nothing to say to him, except “Yessir!”
LEVEE: I can say “yessir” to whoever I please. What you got to do with it? I know how to handle white folks. I been handling them for thirty-two years, and now you gonna tell me how to do it. Just ‘cause I say “yessir” don’t mean I’m spooked up with him. I know what I’m doing. Let me handle him my way.
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When Sturdyvant comes downstairs and says that he’s glad the “boys” are rehearsing, Levee jumps up and calls him “sir,” assuring him that they’re working hard on the songs. After Sturdyvant leaves, though, Cutler and the other bandmember mock him for showing Sturdyvant so much respect. Sturdyvant even used the racist term “boys” to refer to the musicians, and Levee still treated him with respect, responding by saying “Yessir!” Cutler and the others make the point that for all of Levee’s bluster, he quickly became submissive when a powerful white executive entered the room. At the same time, though, Levee Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaq
My daddy wasn’t spooked up by the white man. Nosir! And that taught me how to handle them. I seen my daddy go up and grin in this cracker’s face...smile in his face and sell him his land. All the while he’s planning how he’s gonna get him and what he’s gonna do to him. That taught me how to handle them. So you all just back up and leave Levee alone about the white man. I can smile and say yessir to whoever I please. I got time coming to me. You all just leave Levee alone about the white man.
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Because Levee’s bandmates make fun of the polite way he responds to Sturdyvant’s casual racism, Levee tells a story about how a group of white men raped his mother in front of him when he was a child. When his father found out what happened, he moved the family to a different county. Before leaving, though, he went around and bid farewell to the white neighbors, smiling in their face and shaking the hand of one of his wife’s abusers—only to sneak back to town and hunt down the rapists. Levee took this as a lesson, learning that it’s possible Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus
Act 2 Quotes
MA RAINEY: They don’t care nothing about me. All they want is my voice. Well, I done learned that, and they gonna treat me like I want to be treated no matter how much it hurt them. They back there now calling me all kinds of names…calling me everything but a child of god. But they can’t do nothing else. They ain’t got what they wanted yet. As soon as they get my voice down on them recording machines, then it’s just like if I’d be some whore and they roll over and put their pants on. Ain’t got no use for me then.
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As Ma waits for Sylvester and Slow Drag to buy her a Coke, she talks to Cutler about the music business, telling him that she doesn’t care if Irvin and Sturdyvant are mad about having to meet the demands she makes as a recording artist. And the reason she doesn’t care, she indicates, is that she knows she still has the upper hand—after all, Sturdyvant and Irvin haven’t gotten “what they wanted yet.” In other words, they haven’t yet recorded Ma’s music, so they currently have nothing to sell. As such, they have no choice but to do what she Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessit
MA RAINEY: If you colored and can make them some money, then you all right with them. Otherwise, you just a dog in the alley. I done made this company more money from my records than all the other recording artists they got put together. And they wanna balk about how much this session is costing them.
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Continuing her and Cutler’s discussion about the music industry, Ma talks about how valuable she is to Sturdyvant. Although he might treat her like she’s an expendable artist who’s just costing him money, the truth is that she has made his record label huge profits, especially since Sturdyvant surely owns all the royalties to her songs. The fact that he has made so much money off of her is rather frustrating, considering that he clearly does so in exploitative ways (by not giving her a fair cut of the royalties). But it also means that she can lord her popularity Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem acc
MA RAINEY: White folks don’t understand about the blues. They hear it come out, but they don’t know how it got there. They don’t understand that’s life’s way of talking. You don’t sing to feel better. You sing ‘cause that’s a way of understanding life.
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In a conversation with Cutler about the blues, Ma addresses both the cultural and historical origins of the genre. Although white people like Sturdyvant are perfectly happy to record and sell the blues, Ma suggests that they don’t really “understand” it. The implication here is that white people see the blues as nothing more than a form of entertainment, whereas Black musicians understand that it’s much more than that. For Ma, the blues is a deeply expressive artform, one that makes it possible to better understand one’s own life. To that end, the blues has deep roots in storytelling, as Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetu
CUTLER: I done told you about that blasphemy. Taking about selling your soul to the devil.
TOLEDO: We done the same thing, Cutler. There ain’t no difference. We done sold Africa for the price of tomatoes. We done sold ourselves to the white man in order to be like him. Look at the way you dressed...That ain’t African. That’s the white man. We trying to be just like him. We done sold who we are in order to become someone else. We’s imitation white men.
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After Levee says that he wishes he could sell his soul to the devil in exchange for success, Cutler chastises him for speaking so blasphemously. But then Toledo jumps in and suggests that everyone in the band has done the same exact thing. His reasoning is that Black Americans have given up their historical traditions in order to assimilate into American society. Of course, the fact that white people took Black Americans’ ancestors from Africa and forced them into slavery explains this profound loss of culture, but Toledo still seems to think that Black Americans ought to make a concerted Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitat
LEVEE: It don’t matter what you talking about. I ain’t no imitation white man. And I don’t want to be no white man. As soon as I get my band together and make them records like Mr. Sturdyvant done told me I can make, I’m gonna be like Ma and tell the white man just what he can do. Ma tell Mr. Irvin she gonna leave...and Mr. Irvin get down on his knees and beg her to stay! That’s the way I’m gonna be! Make the white man respect me!
CUTLER: The white man don’t care nothing about Ma. The colored folks made Ma a star. White folks don’t care nothing about who she is...what kind of music she make.
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In a conversation about how commercial success can give Black musicians power, Levee claims that he’ll someday manage to leverage his talent to “make the white man respect” him. One reason he makes such a claim is that Toledo has just suggested that everyone in the band is just an “imitation white man,” implying that Black Americans have given up their own cultural identity in order to assimilate into white society. Levee, however, believes that pleasing white people is a way of gradually building up power. He believes, for example, that Ma is able to boss Sturdyvant and Irvin around Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliqua
STURDYVANT: Hey, Ma…come on, sign the forms, huh?
IRVIN: Ma...come on now.
MA RAINEY: Get your coat, Sylvester. Irvin, where’s my car?
IRVIN: It’s right out front, Ma. Here...I got the keys right here. Come on, sign the forms, huh?
MA RAINEY: Irvin, give me my car keys!
IRVIN: Sure, Ma...just sign the forms, huh? (He gives her the keys, expecting a trade-off.)
MA RAINEY: Send them to my address and I’ll get around to them.
IRVIN: Come on, Ma...I took care of everything, right? I straightened everything out.
MA RAINEY: Give me the pen, Irvin.
(She signs the forms.)
You tell Sturdyvant…one more mistake like that and I can make my records someplace else.
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When the recording session finally ends, Irvin tells Ma that Sturdyvant won’t pay Sylvester his own cut, insisting that his $25 will have to come out of Ma’s share. Ma doesn’t accept this, sending Irvin to talk to Sturdyvant and saying that she’ll never make a record with him again if he doesn’t pay everyone their fair share. Sturdyvant then emerges and pays Ma the correct amount, claiming to have made a mistake. But Ma knows that what really happened is that Sturdyvant realized she hadn’t signed the release forms for the songs—meaning that, although he was able to record Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos.
STURDYVANT: Well, Levee, I don’t doubt that really. It’s just that...well, I don’t think they’d sell like Ma’s records. But I’ll take them off your hands for you.
LEVEE: The people’s tired of jug-band music, Mr. Sturdyvant. They wants something that’s gonna excite them! They wants something with some fire! I don’t know what fellows you had playing them songs...but if I could play them! I’d set them down in the people’s lap! Now you told me I could record them songs!
STURDYANT: Well, there’s nothing I can do about that. Like I say, it’s five dollars a piece. That’s what I’ll give you. I’m doing you a favor. Now, if you write any more, I’ll help you out and take them off your hands. The price is five dollars apiece. Just like now.
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At the end of the play, Sturdyvant lies to Levee by telling him that he doesn’t think his songs will sell very well. Accordingly, he has decided not to record them. However, it’s obvious that Sturdyvant isn’t being honest with Levee. First of all, he previously complained to Irvin about how Ma’s records aren’t selling very well, so the comparison he makes between Levee and Ma’s music is just a way of tricking Levee into thinking his songs are worthless. Second of all, he claims to have had a group of musicians play through Levee’s songs, but there’s no way Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat.
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Sturdyvant Character Timeline in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
The timeline below shows where the character Sturdyvant appears in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
Ma Rainey’s manager, Irvin, sets up a microphone in a recording studio. Meanwhile, Sturdyvant—the owner of the studio—talks to him from the control room, instructing him to keep Ma...
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Sturdyvant talks about Ma’s trumpet player, who he thinks has a fresh new sound—a sellable sound....
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...than an expendable trumpet player. He has real talent, he tells Cutler. He even gave Sturdyvant some of his songs, and Sturdyvant agreed to record them once Levee rounds up a...
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...rehearsing, but Levee doesn’t want to. He’d rather finish the song he’s working on for Sturdyvant. Cutler tells him this is unacceptable—he’s in the band, so he has to rehearse just...
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...different song. But Irvin interrupts to ask about Ma, clearly nervous because of the pressure Sturdyvant is putting on him. Before he goes upstairs, Cutler asks which version of “Ma Rainey’s...
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Levee doesn’t understand why Ma will have the last word. After all, Sturdyvant is the one putting out the record, so surely his opinion matters most. Slow Drag...
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Toledo dislikes the way Levee deferred to Irvin and Sturdyvant. He argues that the Black man will never “find out who he is and what...
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...tell the band that sandwiches have arrived upstairs in the studio. He then talks to Sturdyvant, who’s upset that Ma hasn’t come yet and reminds Irvin that he’s supposed to be...
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Irvin doesn’t let the matter go. He and Sturdyvant decided that it would be best to go with Levee’s version, since that’s what will...
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Sturdyvant comes downstairs and says he’s glad to see that the “boys” are rehearsing. “Yessir!” says...
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...out at white people if necessary, but the band doubts this—after all, Cutler points out, Sturdyvant called him a “boy,” and Levee did nothing but try to please him. According to...
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Act 2
...isn’t time to wait for him to get it right, but Ma disregards this. If Sturdyvant and Irvin want to make a record, they’ll simply have to make the time to...
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...intro. Ma tells him not to worry and that he should take his time. Meanwhile, Sturdyvant comes on over the speaker system and tells Ma not to wait so long before...
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...to do or how to sing, but she won’t take it. People like Irvin and Sturdyvant want to take her voice and profit off it, but they can’t do that until...
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...her that he’s going to have his own band soon. This impresses her, especially since Sturdyvant is going to record Levee’s music. Still, she tells him that she’s only interested in...
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...able to play through the entire number. Everyone celebrates when the song is over, but Sturdyvant breaks the news that something went wrong—Sylvester’s microphone wasn’t working because it got unplugged. As...
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Irvin rushes after Ma, pleading with her to stay as Sturdyvant yells that her career will be ruined if she leaves. Hissing at Sturdyvant to be...
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Although Levee thinks Ma has a certain authority over white men like Irvin and Sturdyvant, Cutler notes that this isn’t real power. After all, she can’t even hail a taxi...
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...approaches Ma and tells her that, though he tried to talk him out of it, Sturdyvant insists that he can only pay Sylvester $25, and that this will be taken from...
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Meanwhile, Sturdyvant talks to Ma in the studio, claiming there was a “mistake” and that everything is...
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After Ma leaves, Sturdyvant comes downstairs and pays each of the band members $25. Before he leaves, Levee stops...
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Sturdyvant says he had some of his own musicians play Levee’s songs, which is when he...
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After Sturdyvant leaves, Levee takes the money from his pocket and throws it on the floor. The...
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