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Then And Now

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Music Makin' Mama

Ann Rabson sings the blues
this weekend at the
Belleville Music Festival.

AUDREY BECKER

Special to the Jewish News

14'

ragging doesn't come easy to Ann Rabson,
co-founder of the renowned trio Saffire
— The Uppity Blues Women. When
another member of the group suggested
she write a song in the blues bragging genre, Rabson
was initially reluctant. "I just didn't feel comfortable
bragging," she explains. But, upon reflection, she
changed her mind. "Then I thought, 'what am I
proud of?' and came up with the song 'Music
Makin' Mama.'"
The song, in turn, became the title of Rabson's
debut solo recording. Music Makin' Mama
(Alligator) offers 16 tracks which showcase her con-
siderable musical prowess. In the title song — filled
with sexual entendres that are fundamental to the
genre — Rabson boasts, "I can use my fingers, I can
thumb the bass / Turn the volume up to ten and
pick up the pace. / I'm a
music makin' mama,
Left: Ann Rabson:
makin' music all night
"Ray Charles once
said that the only
long."
people who can sing
Rabson's musical staying
the blues are African
power is not only all night
Americans and Jews."
long, but life long. The
performer, who will appear
at the Belleville Music
Festival tomorrow evening, was turned on to the
blues at the age of 4 when she heard a song by '30s-
era blues legend Big Bill Broonzy.
Born in New York in 1945 and raised in Ohio,
Rabson was 17 when she started playing guitar,
inspired by the likes of female blues guitarist
Memphis Minnie. In the early '60s, when Rabson
was just in high school, she was already performing
professionally. But it wasn't until age 35 that she
took up her signature instrument: the piano.
Today, Ann Rabson is known as one of the finest
barrelhouse blues pianists of her generation. Her ver-
satile style is dynamic and dramatic, with a delivery
that ranges from rollicking to heartbreaking.

Music

MAKIN'

on page 83

7/2

Detroit Jewish News rat