Bessie Smith was the first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most powerful of all time, and rightly earned the title of "The Empress of the Blues." Even on her first records in 1923, her passionate voice overcame the primitive recording quality of the day and still communicates easily to today's listeners. At a time when the blues were in and most vocalists (particularly vaudevillians) were being dubbed "blues singers," Bessie Smith simply had no competition.
However, by 1929 her style became out of fashion and Bessie Smith's career was declining despite being at the peak of her powers (and still only 35). She appeared in 'St. Louis Blues' that year (a low-budget movie short that contains the only footage of her), but her hit recording of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" predicted her leaner Depression years. Although she was dropped by Columbia Records in 1931 and made her final recordings on a four-song session in 1933, Bessie Smith kept on working. She played the Apollo in 1935 and substituted for Billie Holiday in the show 'Stars Over Broadway'. The chances are very good that she would have made a comeback, starting with a Carnegie Hall appearance at John Hammond's upcoming From Spirituals to Swing concert, but she was killed in a car crash in Mississippi.
For the freeload, tell us about team sports you played in school.
This looks like a really good collection to have. I have some scattered songs by Bessie Smith on my computer but no collection in one place.
ReplyDeleteAs for sports, I don't think I joined up for any. Had friends that did track or swim team. Went to the football games. After school I'd play football, baseball or basketball at the local park with friends. Does tennis count as a team sport?
Not that you would know it these days but I went to a rather prestigious Grammar School back in the day so sports was always quite a big thing.
ReplyDeleteFootball (Soccer) (most positions at one time or another but preferred Centre Forward), Rugby (2nd Row for the school and Outside Centre for the house), Cricket (Opening Bat), (Field) Hockey (forward for the house, defender for the school). As a 6th Former I was House Captain so was Captain in all of them in House Matches and represented the school in all of them (mainly the seconds) as well and in field Hockey we were one of the best schools in the UK. I even played with and against a future British Olympic Gold medallist in Field Hockey at school. Always remember he had an unbelievably low centre of balance. You could never knock him off his feet.
And it was the beginnings of the chronic hip and knee arthritis I now suffer. There is a price to pay for everything
Phantom, somehow we had a swim team without having a swimming pool. I think they used one at a local park. I can't imagine supporting field Hockey. That must have been rough on the joints. I blame mine on installing carpet in my 20's.
DeleteWe didn't have a swim team and no pool and the one in the town closed (storm damage) while I was at that school so even the trips there were curtailed.
DeleteThere were rugby and cricket pitches on the school grounds but the school used to rent pitches at a local municipal sports ground as well which catered for all sorts of amateur sports including field hockey and they used to prepare their hockey pitches pretty well. They were pretty flat so the ball tended not to bounce up that often although the bending forward running wouldn't have helped the joints much.
It was the rugby that really did for me playing second row in the scrum. I played left side second row (in what was basically the powerhouse of the scrum) so my right leg was the one I used most to lock when stopping an opponents push and then use to push when we were trying to go forward. My right hip was the first to go followed by my right knee. C'est la vie.
Football (American) from the time I was 7 until I graduated from college, plus baseball through freshman year of HS. Had a decent college career, but my senior year was a train wreck courtesy of an absolute Twilight Zone scenario under which the head coach of the team was replaced by a guy that would have utilized the same type of systems we were used to, who I met with for the first time and then, 24 hours later, disappeared when he was a passenger in a small plane that was never found (investigation claims that here was problems with the plane that led to it veering off course and flying out over the |Atlantic until it ultimately crashed into the ocean- plane nor any bodies ever recovered). The replacement, replacment head coach was a former assistant coach under the fired head coach with whom I never got along. 4 games into my last season, the players pretty much revolted against him, and he held a meeting with just the seniors on the team (only 9 of us which is a low number to have had) in which he begged us to try to get the younger guys to quit fighting amongst themselves. Odd choice for the meeting since none of the 9 of us had played in a single game as of the time of the meeting. The 9 of us did our best to calm the situation and we did get playing time restored.
ReplyDeleteNone. After-school job everyday and weekends. Always wanted to try synchronized swimming but my high school didn't have a pool.
ReplyDeleteArchery was considered a girls "sport". So was volleyball. We tried to introduce "Frisbee" but running, jumping, catching and throwing wasn't considered a sport. Always had a Frisbee in the trunk of the car. Just in case.
ReplyDeleteUp at camp ( see previous posts) one girls mother and her friends did synchronized swimming in the camp pool. We hung underwater speakers in the pool. Despite the jokes before they arrived I was actually very impressed by the time they performed. Busby Berkley live!
ReplyDeleteIn high school, I played volleyball and softball.
ReplyDeleteIn college and grad school, I played volleyball.
Fun fact: Both Caltech and M.I.T. have the same mascot, a Beaver. No, really...
Link
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/t-4V1zF8XiAn
I played American Football ("Pop Warner") as a kid, and actually had a great time and contributed, because there were weight+age categories, and after my first year, I was older than all my teammates, so about the same weight. I actually was on a championship team in fifth grade.
ReplyDeleteIn high school, I focused on academics and working on stage crew. In college, I was part of the Ultimate Frisbee club, and once traveled to a tournament. I've participated in a softball league as an adult, but eventually gave it up for dance classes (I really enjoyed hanging out with the guys, but also really enjoyed all the women in dance classes - and I'm a faithful spouse).
D in California
Soccer all the way!
ReplyDeleteThe only team sport I ever played was Soccer in elementary school. Otherwise it was all individual recreational sports: biking, skateboarding, water skiing, snow skiing/boarding.
ReplyDelete