Piano player...


Is that really good piano playing? Why haven't we seen mor elf her? Does anyone know her name?

Velvet Voice

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She's the legendary Hazel Scott, who made a name for herself jazzing up the classics in nightclubs and on records. She also appeared in The Heat's On, I Dood It, Something to Shout About, and (most famously) Rhapsody in Blue, in which she performs a killer bilingual rendition of "The Man I Love." She also was the second wife of the notorious Harlem congressman and minister Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Scott is often credited as the first African-American woman to host her own television variety series. Her outspokenness and leftist political leanings ran her afoul of both the Hollywood establishment and the House Un-American Activities Committee; she was blacklisted and rarely worked in American showbiz thereafter, dying in 1981. Karen Chilton has written a stunning biography of her entitled Hazel Scott. I highly recommend it.

Helga, I'm not mad at you; I'm mad at the dirt.

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Watched her performance this morning on TCM -- incredible talent.

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No question. A completely unsung badass.

Helga, I'm not mad at you; I'm mad at the dirt.

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