Collaboration vs. Independence Theme Analysis

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom examines the difficulties of creative collaboration. As a young, ambitious trumpet player, Levee has trouble accepting his role as an accompanying musician. He resents having to simply play whatever he’s told, instead wanting to give the music his own flair. Because of his individualistic attitude, he often finds himself at odds with Cutler, whose job it is to make sure the other musicians play how Ma wants them to. Everyone else in the band has no problem doing what they’re told, thinking not about their own individual artistry, but about working together to make the band sound good—or, more specifically, to make it sound the way Ma wants it to sound. And yet, the play doesn’t necessarily cast Levee in a completely negative light for pursuing his artistic ambitions. Although his individualistic behavior is certainly disruptive, the play frames him as something of an innovator. While the band merely rehashes old blues styles without considering new approaches, Levee strives for something fresh and new. Considering that Sturdyvant offers to buy his songs, it even seems that Levee is onto something interesting and worthwhile. In the end, though, his headstrong ideas about art do little more than turn his bandmates against him and get him fired from the band. The play therefore suggests that there’s an inherent tension between artistic independence and collaboration—the same fiery passion fueling innovation can also alienate artists from their collaborators.

The play makes a distinction between two types of musicians, suggesting that there’s an important difference between dutiful accompanying musicians and creative bandleaders. Except for Levee, everyone in Ma’s backing band accepts that they have one job: to play the songs in whatever style Ma wants. Although it certainly takes skill to properly accompany another musician, the play implies that this skill doesn’t necessarily involve much creativity or artistic inspiration. Instead, musicians like Cutler approach their role very straightforwardly, not thinking much about the music beyond the simple act of playing the songs however they’ve been told to play them. The stage note introducing Cutler hints at this, indicating that his “understanding of his music is limited to the chord he is playing at the time he is playing it.” In other words, Cutler focuses solely on the individual building blocks of a song without considering broader, more artistic ideas about style or creative interpretation.

But Levee has trouble limiting himself to these practical considerations, instead coming up with grand ideas about art. His personal goal isn’t to just competently execute his part as an accompanying musician, but to do so in an innovative way. He therefore takes issue with his bandmates’ approach to music, especially disliking Slow Drag’s desire to quickly record the album so he can get paid sooner. Levee resents Slow Drag’s focus on money, which he finds unartistic, but Cutler challenges Levee’s lofty ideas, telling him to “just play the piece.” Cutler also says, “You wanna be one of them…what you call…virtuoso something, you in the wrong place.” His point here is that regardless of Levee’s creative talent, none of his artistic ideas matter in this specific context, which is all about supporting Ma. There’s no need for a virtuosic trumpet player in the band; as long as Levee can play what’s asked of him, it doesn’t matter what he thinks about art.

The play suggests that while there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the fact that Levee has his own ideas about music and artistic expression, he lets these ideas interfere with the band’s collaborative process. The play doesn’t condemn Levee for thinking critically about his music. To the contrary, there’s the subtle sense that Levee is the only musician in the band who isn’t stuck rehashing the same artistic style over and over. His desire to make the music livelier even proves that he has a good sense of where popular culture is headed, considering that the mid-20th century saw an explosion of songs that were fast and upbeat.

The problem, though, is that not all environments are fit for the kind of creative flourishing Levee aims for. After all, Levee is in Ma’s band, not his own, and his attempt to explore new musical avenues ends up putting him in the spotlight and taking attention away from Ma. Consequently, Ma fires him after the recording session, confirming what his bandmates have already tried to tell him: namely, that the only thing that matters in this band is whether or not he plays what Ma wants. His failure to follow this artistic direction is, in the end, a failure to collaborate. Even though his ambition might actually touch on something fresh and new, this just isn’t the right environment for artistic exploration. Levee is thus left all on his own, perhaps implying that even the most groundbreaking and impressive artists need to know when and how to set aside their creative drive in order to simply collaborate. Otherwise, they might find themselves completely alone with their lofty ideas about art.