Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, "Coon Songs," and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz

Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff

Univ. Press of Mississippi, Sep 17, 2009 - Music - 472 pages

The commercial explosion of ragtime in the early twentieth century created previously unimagined opportunities for black performers. However, every prospect was mitigated by systemic racism. The biggest hits of the ragtime era weren't Scott Joplin's stately piano rags. “Coon songs,” with their ugly name, defined ragtime for the masses, and played a transitional role in the commercial ascendancy of blues and jazz.

In Ragged but Right, Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff investigate black musical comedy productions, sideshow bands, and itinerant tented minstrel shows. Ragtime history is crowned by the “big shows,” the stunning musical comedy successes of Williams and Walker, Bob Cole, and Ernest Hogan. Under the big tent of Tolliver's Smart Set, Ma Rainey, Clara Smith, and others were converted from “coon shouters” to “blues singers.”

Throughout the ragtime era and into the era of blues and jazz, circuses and Wild West shows exploited the popular demand for black music and culture, yet segregated and subordinated black performers to the sideshow tent. Not to be confused with their nineteenth-century white predecessors, black, tented minstrel shows such as the Rabbit's Foot and Silas Green from New Orleans provided blues and jazz-heavy vernacular entertainment that black southern audiences identified with and took pride in.

Contents

• INTRODUCTION: 3
• Coon Songs Big Shows and Black Stage Stars of the Ragtime Era: 11
• The Spirit of the Smart Set: 81
• Blues for the Sideshow Tent: 157
• Under Canvas African American Tented Minstrelsy and the Untold Story of Allens New Orleans Minstrels the Rabbits Foot Company the Florida Blos...: 209
• ROSTERS OF ALEXANDER TOLLIVERS SHOWS: 357
• ITINERARY OF ALEXANDER TOLLIVERS BIG SHOWSMART SET: 359
• CIRCUS AND WILD WEST SIDE SHOW ANNEX BAND AND MINSTREL ROSTERS 19111920: 361
• BAND ROSTERS OF ALLENS NEW ORLEANS MINSTRELS THE RABBITS FOOT COMPANY THE FLORIDA BLOSSOMS AND SILAS GREE...: 371
• NOTES: 383
• GENERAL INDEX: 427
• SONG INDEX: 451

About the author

Lynn Abbott is an independent scholar living in New Orleans. He is coauthor (with Doug Seroff) of Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889–1895; The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville; and To Do This, You Must Know How: Music Pedagogy in the Black Gospel Quartet Tradition, all published by University Press of Mississippi. His work has also been published in American Music, 78 Quarterly, American Music Research Center Journal, and The Jazz Archivist. Doug Seroff is an independent scholar living in Greenbrier, TN. He is coauthor (with Lynn Abbott) of Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889–1895; The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville; and To Do This, You Must Know How: Music Pedagogy in the Black Gospel Quartet Tradition, all published by University Press of Mississippi. His work has also appeared in American Music, Black Music Research Newsletter, Blues Unlimited, and Record Exchanger, among others.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, "Coon Songs," and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz; American Made Music Series
• Authors: Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2009
• ISBN: 1604731486, 9781604731484
• Length: 472 pages
• Subjects: Music / Genres & Styles / Blues; Music / Genres & Styles / Jazz; Music / History & Criticism; Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies