>>>>Of course, a decent choir singing a capella, doesn't sound a capella. The voices take the place of the various instruments.
>>>
>>>Check out the samples on the site for my son's college a cappella group, especially Sixteen Tons:
>>>
>>>http://www.yale.edu/spizzwinks/music/
>>>
>>>Tamar
>>
>>Oh, my yes! That's what I'm talking about.
>>
>>When I was a kid I met Paul Robeson. I was a little initmidated because I was, iirc, 8 years old and he was a very solid 6 foot 3. He was doing a talk and a little bit of a singing seminar for us kids at the UJPO (United Jewish Peoples' Order) centre here in Toronto. There were only about 20 or so of us, and we got to meet him up close and personal. One of the songs he did was 'Water Boy', and it awed me, especially on the really low notes, just how closely his voice resembled the sound of a Hammond organ.
>
>16 tons: one of the numbers I do. You met Paul Robeson? Wow! I remember him from old fils like "Sanders of the River" in which he sang a song like "Sandy is strong, Sandy is bold", with the Afticans keeping up the rythmn, while they paddled down the river - a right imperialistic, white supremacy thing

It was very unfortunate, the type of movies they stuck him in. But that's how they treated blacks in Hollywood at the time. On the other hand, the part of Joe in 'Riverboat', and most especially the song "Ol' Man River" was written by Jerome Kern specifically for Paul Robeson.

Speaking of what they did to black talent, there was a wonderful black singer by the name of Nina Mae McKinney (Nina is pronounced like nine-a). Hollywood pretty much destroyed her with garbage roles and songs, and like so many others, she ended up on drugs etc.