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Rag Doll

Berlin
Classic blues of the 1920s performed by the great female blues singers: voice, trombone, and piano. Harlem stride, barrelhouse, and boogie-woogie on the piano, plus a trombone that sings, growls, and comments.

When Bessie Smith recorded "Empty Bed Blues" in 1928, trombonist Charlie Green commented on each of her lines with suggestive slurs. Rag Doll has taken precisely this lineup of vocals, trombone, and piano as their model. The band sees itself as an all-female trio of classic blues, the blues form that was first recorded in 1920 and made history with its confident female singers.

Rag Doll was founded in 2012 by a singer and pianist Amy Protscher, who agreed on one thing: Bessie Smith was to blame. Since then, the Berlin-based musicians have dedicated themselves to the repertoire of the Empress of the Blues and her contemporaries Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, and Alberta Hunter. They also tell their stories and bring along the raw, honest humor of those songs.

The piano is the heart of the band, working for an entire rhythm section. Amy Protscher lays the foundation with Harlem Stride, where the left hand leaps between bass note and chord, with the heavy step of Barrelhouse, and with rolling Boogie Woogie. Ulrikke Hanspach-Torkildsen from Oslo plays trombone. Her instrument takes on the role that the wind instruments had in the old recordings: it responds to the vocals, adds glissandi and growls, and propels the chorus forward.

The debut album, "Beneath The Crown Of The Empress," was recorded live in front of an audience in February 2020, entirely without the crackle of a shellac record. It features classics such as Ma Rainey's "Prove It On Me Blues," Bessie Smith's "Empty Bed Blues," and Alberta Hunter's "My Castle's Rockin'." It opens with a fast-paced rock 'n' roll version of a Denise LaSalle song, a testament to the trio's free approach to their material.

Rag Doll does not aim for a museum-like reconstruction. The musicians write their own songs in a period style and rework more recent music with the aesthetics of the Roaring Twenties. On their YouTube channel, they also collect interviews and concert excerpts on the history of Classic Blues. In concert, they turn every stage into a Juke Joint, and when the trombone growls for the first time behind the voice, you understand why Bessie Smith was looking for exactly that sound.

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