Ma Rainey’s Living Tradition of the Blues

By Tracy Rasmussen

Blues musician Charlie Apicella’s formula for success is simple: He awakens every day creating music to make Ma Rainey proud.

Apicella never met Rainey, who died in 1939, but he said it is impossible to know the blues without also knowing her on a visceral level. And it has been his life’s mission to not only honor her -- but to perpetuate the musical values for which she stood and educate audiences about her vast contributions to the blues.

“She’s the mother of the blues,” he said. “The mother of everything that came after her. I’m consumed by it.”

Apicella brings Ma Rainey’s Living Tradition of the Blues to the Reading Blues Fest, Nov. 22 at 1 p.m. at the DoubleTree Grand Ballroom. A day-pass ticket is $125.

Apicella on guitar and banjo will be joined by Beareather Reddy and Madame Pat Tandy on vocals, Avery Sharp on bass and Steve Johns on drums.

Apicella connected to Ma Rainey’s legacy when he was a student at the University of Massachusetts. He had picked up a guitar only six months prior to entering college, but he had always had an interest in music.

“I was into baseball before that,” he said of his initial dream to catch for the Mets. “But I discovered that I was moved by the music of BB King (who he met in 1999) and Jimi Hendrix.”

So he got a guitar and began to study not only the music, but also the musicians.

At college he met and was mentored by Yusef Lateef, took guitar lessons from Pat Marino and eventually even met and worked with Hendrix’s percussionist Juma Sultan.

During college he expanded his African American Studies classes to Arts Administration, played the heck out of his guitar, had a radio show and helped to produce concerts featuring the blues and jazz music he loved.

“It wasn’t like I came up playing Clapton,” he said. “I think I know the beginning of one Creedance tune, but I just devoted myself to the music I could play. I started writing music intuitively.”

He said he found a good environment and good teachers at college, and he maintained those relationships as he launched his career.

“What I learned from these masters is what I now call ancestral voices,” he said. “I am drawn to things that are authentic and draw on a reality bigger than myself. And I believe that all musical roads lead back to Ma Rainey.”

Ma Rainey, born Gertrude Pridgett to a touring minstrel family, shaped blues in the early 20th century blending her vaudeville roots with Southern Blues traditions. She popularized blues music with her vocals and stage presence and her uncanny ability to tell a story.

Saturday’s concert will showcase her iconic music that includes songs such as “Shave Em Dry,” “Prove It on Me Blues” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Ma Rainey recorded more than 125 songs in her career, and she wrote many of them. Known for her specific orchestrations, Ma Rainey relied as much on how she sang as what she sang. During her career she influenced, worked and mentored future music notables Louis Armstrong, Tampa Red and Thomas A. Dorsey.

Apicella said he seeks authenticity in the music and the presentation includes not only the music, but also some education about the genre and Ma Rainey’s contribution to it.

“I wake up in the morning, and I try to do whatever it would take to get into Ma Rainey’s band,” he said. “I practice a lot, and I practice the right things.”

He said keeping that goal in mind can be daunting, but it’s worth it to keep the music pure and played as intended.

“She was very specific,” he said. “The great accompanists are playing the exact melody, the way she wrote it.”

He said he feels compelled to continue in this tradition and feels a cosmic connection to the artists and wants to continue to play this music and educate.

“In my opinion I need to be able to prove every choice that I’m making,” he said. “I think we are the band that Ma Rainey would have if she were still alive.”