A new biography of one of the key composers of 20th-century American popular song, Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm and Race illuminates the man's little-known impact on over 100 years of American culture. A gifted musician, Blake performed as a teenager in his native Baltimore and dance halls and houses of prostitution, rising to become a major figure in the local musical scene. Together with another young black vaudeville star, Noble Sissle, he co-created Shuffle Along in 1921, which is generally recognized as the first commercially successful all-black production on Broadway. Introducing a slew of star performers to the spotlight, including Lottie Gee, Florence Mills, Freddie Washington, and Josephine Baker, Shuffle Along ushered in an era of great black shows and revues. Not content to settle down after the show's success, Blake went on to compose for films and other Broadway shows, eventually finding a second career as a Ragtime raconteur in the 1960s. His skills as a pianist, gifts as a storyteller and entertainer, and appearances on major TV shows from Johnny Carson and David Frost to the Today Show led him to a new career as a concert artist. Tracing not only Blake's extraordinary life and accomplishments, seasoned Broadway authors Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom also illustrate the wider history of post-minstrel black entertainment, from pianists working in bordellos and dance halls through ragtime, Broadway, and film. Through Blake's career, they show both the new opportunities available to contemporary black performers and the limitations that black musicians still struggled to overcome. Drawing from a wealth of personal archives and interviews with Blake, his friends, and other scholars, Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm and Race offers a complete picture of the man and the musical world he inhabited.

Book Information
ISBN 9780190635930
Author Richard Carlin
Format Hardback
Page Count 440
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 156g