Mamie Smith recorded “Crazy Blues” — African-American women’s breakthrough into the mainstream recording industry — with the Jazz Hounds in the summer of 1920
I love media and communication, as well as digital technology. I write in Spanish and English, fluent in both languages: speak, read, write, comprehend. I was born in New York, but was sent to Puerto Rico at an early age, where I lived until drafted by the U.S. army. Upon returning from an honorable discharge, I found Puerto Rico small and limited at the time. I moved to Boston where I pursued musical studies and later worked as a musician, teacher, and speech-pathologist in New York.
I studied music at Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA, and Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at various New York City colleges, including New York University, New York City, New York. I played professionally in Puerto Rico, prior to entering Berklee College of Music, and after finishing studies there I played in the 80’s bass guitar briefly, with various latin bands, including the Machito Big Band Orchestra in 1982. I was part of their recording that year. Once I saw the transitory nature of music, I studied speech-pathology and worked in that function after teaching middle-school and elementary grades in the New York City Board/Department of Education. In that capacity, I also worked for the New York City Department of Health as an independent contractor providing therapy and evaluations for pre-school and school-age children. I later worked in the high school setting in that capacity before I retired from the Department of Education. I am now retired and with my spare time, I pursue old, and new dreams, as age is a reminder of the evanescence and impermanence of life.
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