[Dixielandjazz] Ma Rainey

[Glen Page]

Hi all, 
How refreshing to see a real blues singer being discussed here.

I tried to  cast some light on Bob's request, Ma is my favourite female
blues singer and I started to seriously collect her recordings in the late
1950s
I have checked the available resources that I have on hand but cannot come
up with anything of significance. I do however have written on the back of
the sleeve of the London LP that Bob referred to that Lovie Austin was the
pianist for the 3 Rainey tunes on the record. After checking both Rust and
Godrich and Dixon there is no mention of this possibility and I cannot
recall where I got this information from originally.

The title given in these books and also "Mother Of The Blues, A Study Of Ma
Rainey", which is the doctoral thesis of the author Sandra Lieb is
consistently "See See Rider Blues". There were 2 takes recorded. The first
one being that released at the time.

I will have to pull the disc out to see what I think about the possibility
of an also sax being present. Perhaps somebody with access  to Tom Lord's
discography could check to see if any other possibilities exist. If somebody
comes up with anything new they will be kind enough to let us all know.

Cheers,
Glen.