Ella

Famous Jazz Singer in an Iconic, Heavenly Setting.

Ma Rainy Kicks It

In 'Black Pearls', Daphne Harrison praised Rainey as the first great blues stage singer: "The good-humored, rollicking Rainey loved life, loved love, and most of all loved her people. Her voice burst forth with a hearty declaration of courage and determination - a reaffirmation of black life". A great contributor to America's rich blues tradition, Rainey's music has served as inspiration for African American poets such as Langston Hughes and Sterling Brown, the latter of whom paid tribute to the majestic singer in the poem "Ma Rainey," which appeared in his 1932 collection Southern Road. More recently, Alice Walker looked to Ma Rainey's music as a cultural model of African American womanhood when she wrote the Pulitzer Prize- winning novel, The Color Purple.