The album features guest appearances from Sy Smith, W. Learn about the trailblazing, gender non-conforming performer Gladys Bentley with this digital short from Unladylike2020. Rather than conjuring up the blues like Gladys, Shirlette uses hip hop to create a record that revisits the steaze of southern dandyism, that is lyrically dapper, a little raunchy and a lot queer. I instead wrote original tunes that conjure the same energy of rebellion and sexual liberation."
Gladys took popular songs and replaced the lyrics with raunchy, more provocative ones. Shirlette says, "I wanted to create a record that uses hip hop, the music of posturing and prowess of my day, to channel the memory of Gladys Bentley. 'Twilight for Gladys Bentley,' is the result of that exploration. Ammons spent over a year on a personal journey to explore and re-interperate the unsung blues singer who defied sexual and gender norms while putting on one of the hippest performance in 1920′s Harlem. She calls the album a 're-imagining' of the trail-blazing blues singer and bulldagger, Gladys Bentley. Bentley and his wife, a Trinidadian, Mary Mote. She was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of American George L. Her career skyrocketed when she appeared at Harry Hansberry's Clam House in New York in the 1920s, as a black, lesbian, crossdressing performer. Gladys Bentley was a pianist, singer, and performer during the Harlem Renaissance. 'Twilight for Gladys Bentley' is the debut solo album from award-winning poet and musician, Shirlette Ammons. Gladys Alberta Bentley (Aug January 18, 1960) was an American blues singer, pianist, and drag entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance.
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