Mary Celina Desdunes (Mamie was often used in place of a real name) she was a Creole woman born 1879 to died 1911 – Considering the influence she had on the emergence of the blues, it is regrettable that this is the only photograph of her that exists. As is the case with so many of these people from so long ago, little is known about her life. Certainly, she was a blues woman from New Orleans, famous for playing with two fingers and a thumb on her right hand after the middle two fingers were amputated. 

Apparently, she and a few friends were at a picnic in 1893, presumable just for fun, she was attempting to jump on a moving train. She lost her footing and broke her left leg and her right hand was crushed, her playing was therefore limited, but her influence on Jelly Roll Morton was such, that he would listen to her singing and playing the piano as much as he could.

 It’s possible she would have learned the piano at school, and then developed her talent in the French Quarter of New Orleans, listening to the early jazz and blues there, as well as the Delta blues brought down from the Mississippi by the riverboats together with the travelling groups, such as the Rabbit Foot Minstrels.

Mamie Desdunes died as Mamie Dugue from tuberculosis in New Orleans on 4th December 1911, she was 32 years old.
It is sad that the original recording of Mamie's 2.15 Blues no longer exists, the one track she left us. Fortunately, Jelly Roll Morton recorded a version of it called 'Mamie's Blues'.