Original & Early versions series: "Flamingo" - Duke Ellington band, w/Herb Jeffries
yougotl...@yahoo.com
original grandeur, featuring the "Bronze Baritone", Herb Jeffries on
vocal, with cut away to some cafe-au-lait people dancing some ballet
to same:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlmMzUMCIIg&feature=related
Larry Ingersoll
DannyW.
This is a great song. My jazz group in the '60's started every gig
with it, and my current jazz group still plays it.
Here it is 42 years ago. I'm the guitar player.
Danny W.
DannyW.
50s
yougotl...@yahoo.com
He was good enough for Ellington (also featured on great songs like
"Jump For Joy" or "I'm Just A Lucky So and So"), but he wasn't/isn't
good enough for you....how does that work? I'll take the Duke's
assessment.
Larry
50s
Jeffries never made a great record....sorry. Never even made a good
record.
yougotl...@yahoo.com
>
> - Show quoted text -
Not true. "Flamingo" (with Ellington) is a great record. "Jump For
Joy" (RCA 1940) with Ellington is perhaps an even better record. If
you don't think Jump For Joy is not immediately, and in an inspired
way, a great record, then you don't have a brain in your head.
50s
I do have a brain in my head, I just don't also have one in my ass,
like you seem to.
yougotl...@yahoo.com
>
> - Show quoted text -
On the contrary, you're the actual one thinking from one's ass, which
is why your logic in the above allegation is EXACTLY backwards.
Now about this singer you think so little of, others beg to differ:
[Open quote as follows from "Pop Culture Universe from The Later
Swing
Era, 1942 to 1955 (2004)
by Lawrence McClellan Jr.:]
http://popstaging.greenwood.com/print.aspx?id=GR0157-930
...........................................................................................................................................
HERB JEFFRIES
Herb Jeffries was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 24, 1916,
of
a part-black mother and a white father. This was not an optimal
family
situation at that time. He literally had to hobo around Detroit,
Chicago, and New York as a kid. As fate would have it, he ended up
getting the opportunity to appear with Erskine Tate's orchestra in
Chicago at age fourteen. Earl Hines heard Jeffries, contracted him
for
the Grand Terrace Revue, and hired him later to sing with his band.
[46] Jeffries stayed with Hines from 1931 to 1934 and later joined
Blanche Calloway for a brief period. [47] After leaving Calloway, he
went to Hollywood and appeared in a number of all-black Western films
as a singing cowboy star.
Duke Ellington remembered Jeffries from his days with the Grand
Terrace Revue and hired him in 1940. He remained with Ellington for
two years and, during that time, became successful with songs such as
“Flamingo,” “I Don't Know the Kind of Blues I've Got,” “The Brownskin
Gal,” and “Jump for Joy.” The 1940 recording of “Flamingo” displays
Jeffries' rich and resonant baritone voice, smooth phrasing, and
superb diction. Here, he demonstrates a vocal range that extends from
a deep bass-baritone up to a crystal clear falsetto voice on the
coda.
In “Brownskin Gal” (1941) he again demonstrates his ability to
deliver
smooth phrasing of the melody with impeccable intonation in his lower
baritone range. Although Jeffries has a clear legato style, his
articulation in “Jump for Joy” (1941) is slightly detached but clean
and precise in this medium-tempo song. Along with his precise
articulation, he displays clear diction and wonderful intonation.
Probably the most impressive aspect of Jeffries' vocal style is his
ability to sing a melody with mature musical taste and, at the same
time, display an infectious humor that was rare for the early
forties.
When Jeffries left Ellington in 1942, he settled in Los Angeles and
became a successful entrepreneur with a nightclub called The Black
Flamingo. He continued to sing in some of LA's other clubs for about
three years before signing a contract with Exclusive Records, a
black-
owned independent company. He recorded the Magenta Moods album for
Exclusive, which contains singles such as “My Blue Heaven,” “Body and
Soul,” “Jungle Rose,” and “What's the Score” accompanied by arranger-
conductor Buddy Baker's band. [48] Between 1945 and 1956, Jeffries
performed in Hollywood clubs and recorded several times as a leader
with Lucky Thompson, Eddie Beal, Bobby Hackett, and Russ Garcia's
orchestra. Jeffries remained active both as a vocalist and actor
during the seventies and formed his own record company, United
National Records, in 1978. [49] He continued to perform in the
eighties and nineties on jazz cruises and in nightclubs. [50]
Jeffries
surprised several nightclub patrons on one occasion when they found
out that he was part African-American. Jeffries, a very proud man,
responded by saying, “Imagine, if a few drops of Negro blood, beside
all that white blood, make me a Negro, imagine how valuable that
Negro
blood must be!” [51] Regardless of Jeffries' hue, Ulanov wrote the
following in reference to his vocal ability: “Maybe you'll hear why
an
opera singer, a wonderfully-talented one just arrived in America to
make a highly successful Metropolitan debut, exclaimed on hearing
Herb's records, after a large dose of the famous records of the
famous
names of popular singing, ‘Ah, now, there at last is a singer!’”
[end quote]
............................................................................................................................................
About the author for this essay, Lawrence McClellan, Jr.:
[open quote:]
About the Author
LAWRENCE McCLELLAN, JR., is Dean of the Professional Education
Division at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior
to joining the administration at Berklee, he was a public-school band
director in Georgia and Tennessee and Director of Music Education at
the University of the Virgin Islands. Lawrence has served as an
adjudicator/clinician/presenter at numerous conferences, music
festivals, and academic institutions, including MusicFest USA;
MusicFest Canada; The International Association for Jazz Education;
The Music Educators National Conference; The International Society
for
Music Education in Pretoria, South Africa; the European Music
Educators Conference in Oberursel, Germany; University of Colorado at
Boulder; Governors State University; The University of Missouri-
Kansas
City, University of the Virgin Islands; Jackson State University;
American School of Modern Music in Paris, France; and Fundacio L'Aula
de Musica in Barcelona, Spain. As an author, he has written for
Downbeat, the Jazz Education Journal, and The American Dictionary of
Biography. Lawrence has performed as a trombonist with major artists
such as Patti Labelle, Terence Blanchard, Aretha Franklin, Donald
Brown, Nancy Wilson, Bill Pierce, Glen Campbell, Kenny Burrell,
Marvin
Stamm, James Spaulding, Don Braden, Cecil Brooks III, and others. He
has recorded with Larry Ridley's Jazz Legacy Ensemble, Jimmy
McCracklin, and Walter Beasley. Lawrence's CD, Movin' Up, was
released
by IGMOD Records in 1998. He currently serves as a resource team
member for The International Association for Jazz Education. He holds
a bachelor's degree from Knoxville College, a master's degree from
the
University of Tennessee, and a doctorate from Michigan State
University."
...........................................................................................................................................
[end quote]
L.I. (usenet poster resumes): The late Martin Williams, former
curator of music for many years at the Smithsonian Institution, and
compiler of a number of Smithsonian Jazz Boxed Sets had nice things
to
say about Herb Jeffries, too. I can dig up something from the liner
notes in praise of Jeffries technique on "I Don't Know What Kind Of
Blues I Got" (with Ellington band), as well. Even that would hardly
be the last reinforcing opinion one could garner from credible
sources.
If I could get $ 5 for every extolling appreciation of Jeffries, I'd
be glad to track down so more.
This is the singer Bruce Grossberg (a.k.a. "50s") thinks so little
of. Let it be known that nobody, but nobody, should take Bruce's
word for the last word on the relative merits of anybody's music, let
alone gospel.
-Larry Ingersoll
50s
You say the monkees suck, and I can show you loads of prominent
musicians who disagree, what does that prove?
By Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)
The Monkees were created as an American made-for-TV answer to The
Beatles. Despite not being formed as an actual band would, the group
produced some of the best pop music of the 60's. Musical director Don
Kirshner assembled a top notch staff of songwriters, producers and
studio musicians that created the Monkees' sound. Although the band
only sang on the songs (with the exception of Mike Nesmith who played
on, produced and wrote two of his own songs), they added their own
personal touches to the songs. Mickey Dolenz stepped to the front as
the lead singer and he sings on the albums best songs including the
trippy "Saturday's Child" & "Take A Giant Step", the soul-influenced
"Let's Dance On" & the mega number one hit "Last Train To
Clarksville". Mike Nesmith contributes two songs, the country-tinged
"Papa Gene's Blues" and the superb "Sweet Young Thing" that contains
screeching fiddles mixed with a buzz guitar for an unusual and unique
sound. Davy Jones provides the ballads for the album, the maudlin "I
Wanna Be Free" and the drippy "I'll Be True To You". "Gonna Buy Me A
Dog" is a classic bit of Monkees farce with it's silly lyrics and
goofy studio banter. Peter Tork (as would be the case with future
releases) really only appears in name only on this album. The Monkees
have taken their fare share of criticism for being an artificial band,
but what difference does it make how you were formed or got your music
deal, the end result is the music. The Monkees made great music and
over 30 years later, their music still sounds great.
DianeE
"DannyW." <danny...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:935e6f59-63e1-43c8...@a39g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4157345429940276434&hl=en#
Danny W.
--------------
I see your group was called the Mellotones. Did you name yourself after
Ellington's great 1940 record "In A Mellotone?"
Nice arrangement of "Flamingo" too. So different from the Earl Bostic
arrangement that we are all familiar with here.
DianeE
yougotl...@yahoo.com
Very nice
DannyW.
> "DannyW." <dannynik...@cox.net> wrote in message
I think the name was just meant to be descriptive. Thanks for the kind
words.
Here's another one that's not the same as the familiar arrangement:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1268510031867349699&hl=en#
and an early '60's tune in a completely different interpretation:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=870407568148206833&hl=en#
Danny W.
Danny W.
DannyW.
Thank you!
See my other reply for a few more tunes.
Danny W.
Scarlotti
I haven't heard much by Jeffries, but what I have heard sounds good.
The Monkees, otoh, are my favorite rock band from the 60s.