Herb Jeffries
| Herb Jeffreys | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Herbert Jeffrey |
| Born | September 24, 1913 Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupations | Singer, actor |
| Years active | 1933–1995 |
| Labels | Warner Bros. Records[1] |
Herbert "Herb" Jeffries (born September 24, 1913) is an American jazz and popular singer and actor.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Detroit, Michigan as Herbert Jeffrey, he is the son of Umberto Balentino,[2] a pianist of African-American and Sicilian descent and his wife, Mildred, who was of Irish descent.[3]
[edit] Career
A jazz and popular singer, Jeffries is noted for being the first black[4] man to star in an American western. He starred as a singing cowboy in several all-black Western films, in which he sang his own western compositions. Jeffries obtained financing for the first black western film and hired Spencer Williams to appear with him. In addition to starring in the film, he sang and performed his own stunts as the cowboy character Bob Blake.
Jeffries began his career working with Erskine Tate and his Vendome Orchestra when he moved to Chicago from Detroit at the urging of Louis Armstrong. His break came during the 1933 Chicago World's Fair—Century of Progress Exposition singing with the Earl Hines Orchestra on Hines’ national broadcasts live from the Grand Terrace Cafe. His first recordings were with Hines in 1934, including "Just to be in Carolina". As of 2011, Jeffries is the sole surviving member of that Earl Hines orchestra. He then recorded extensively with Duke Ellington from 1940 to 1942. His most famous song, "Flamingo" (recorded in 1940 with Ellington), sold over 50 million copies. He was replaced in the Ellington band by Al Hibbler in 1943.
Playing a singing cowboy in low-budget films, Jeffries became known as the "Bronze Buckaroo" by fans who attended his films. In a time of American racial segregation, these "race movies" played mostly in theaters catering to African American audiences.[5] The films, available on video, include Harlem on the Prairie, The Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem Rides the Range and Two-Gun Man from Harlem. Jeffries went on to make other films, starring with Angie Dickinson in Calypso Joe (1957). He later directed and produced Mundo Depravados, a cult film starring his wife, Tempest Storm.
In 1968, Jeffries appeared in the long-running western TV series The Virginian playing a gunslinger who intimidated the town. At age 81, he recorded a Nashville album of songs on the Warner Western label in 1995 entitled The Bronze Buckaroo (Rides Again).
[edit] Honors
For his contributions to the motion-picture industry, Herb Jeffries has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6672 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2004, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A restaurant in Idyllwild, Cafe Aroma, has a room named for him.
[edit] Personal life
In 2007, while assembling material for the producers of a documentary film about him (A Colored Life), Jeffries found his birth certificate; this reminded him that he actually had been born in 1913 (not 1911) but that he had misrepresented his age after he left home to look for a job. His four marriages (including one to exotic dancer Tempest Storm) produced five children. Jeffries' family tree includes grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren (including a granddaughter with autism). Jeffries lives in the Southern California mountains with his wife, Savannah. As of 2009 Jeffries (now known as "Mr. Flamingo") is still singing; he appears at jazz festivals and events benefiting autism and other childhood developmental problems. He also lectures at colleges and universities.
Jeffries is a supporter of music education in schools. In June 2010 he gave a performance to raise funds for the Oceanside (California) Unified School District's music program, accompanied by the Big Band Jazz Hall of Fame Orchestra under the direction of clarinetist Tad Calcara. This benefit concert was his second (the previous concert was in 2001). He still possesses a good vocal range and phrasing.
[edit] Partial filmography
- Harlem on the Prairie (1937)
- Two-Gun Man from Harlem (1938)
- Harlem Rides the Range (1939)
- The Bronze Buckaroo (1939)
- Calypso Joe (1957)
- Chrome and Hot Leather (1971)
- Portrait of a Hitman (1977)
[edit] Selected discography
- Sidney Bechet: "1940-1941" (Classics)
- Earl Hines: "1932-1934" (Classics)
- Duke Ellington:"The Blanton Webster Band" (RCA, 1940–42)
- Michael Martin Murphey: "Sagebrush Symphony"
- "Jamaica" (RKO Records ULP - 128) all songs composed by Jeffries
- "Passion" (Brunswick, BL 54028) Coral singles compiled on 12" LP
- "Say it Isn't So" (Bethlehem BCP 72) with the Russ Garcia Orchestra
- "Herb Jeffries" (Harmony HL 7048) Columbia singles LP
- "Magenta Moods" (Mercury 2589 10") LP transfer of Exclusive label album
- "Herb Jeffries Sings" (Mercury 2590 10") more Exclusive singles with the Buddy Baker Orchestra
- "Herb Jeffries and his Orchestra" (Mercury 2591 10") Exclusive label singles
- "Songs by Herb Jeffries" (Mercury 2592 10") Exclusive label singles
- "I Remember the Bing" (Dobre Records 1047)
- "Play and Sing the Duke" (Dobre Records 1053)
- "The King and Me" (Dobre Records 1059)
In the 1940s and 1950s Jeffries recorded for a number of labels, including RCA Victor, Exclusive, Coral, Decca, Bethlehem, Columbia, Mercury and Trend. His album "Jamaica", recorded by RKO, is a concept album of self-composed calypso songs.
[edit] References
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20091027160022/http://geocities.com/patmil007/5769.jpg
- ^ There would seem to be some controversy about this. The Duke Ellington Music Society[DEMS] suggests, "In September 1989, Ellington authority Patricia Willard conducted an extensive oral history interview with Herb Jeffries, as a part of the Smithsonian Institution's oral history project. In the interview, Jeffries stated that he was born on September 24, 1913. His "real" name is Umberto Alesandro Valentino. His great grandfather, who was stationed in Ethiopia by the Italian government, married an Ethiopian. His (Jeffries') father was a Valentino, his mother, who was Irish, was named O'Dell. During his "Bronze Buckaroo" days (ca. 1937-1939), he was known as Herbert Jeffrey." Certainly Balentino is a very unusual Italian name. DEMS 05/3/27 continues, "His name and date of birth have been discussed several times in DEMS Bulletin: 00/1-11/3; 00/2-19p1472 (quote from same oral history); 00/3-6/2 (showing Herb's own hand-written signature: Umberto Alexandro Balentino); 03/2-29p1472; 03/3-20 (testimony by Steven Lasker who asked Herb: Balentino!). "I believe that Herb, who also gave several different dates for his birth (24Sep11; Nov11; 24Sep13; 24Sep16) couldn't resist giving us different names as well. The most important thing however is that we know who we are talking about and I quote one of his daughters who wrote to DEMS (00/1-11/3), "Throughout his long and illustrious career, my Dad has had a few acceptable variations to his name, most especially in his earlier years. However, as long as I've known him….. and that would be 52 years….. "Herb Jeffries" has been his name. # 1 Daughter, Ferne.
- ^ "Fourteenth Census of the United States (1920) [database on-line , Detroit (3rd Ward), Wayne County, Michigan, Enumeration District: 99, Page: 2A, Lines: 13-18, household of Howard Jeffrey"]. United States: The Generations Network. 1920-01-06. http://www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
- ^ This, too, has been questioned. See "Jeffries began his entertainment career at a time when black and white worlds rarely overlapped. Though born of an Irish mother and Sicilian father, at the age of 19 he spontaneously declared himself to be “Creole” in order to get a singing gig with an all-black jazz band; in that moment he also committed himself to life as a “colored” man during one of the worst times in civil rights history. Yet his bronze complexion, good looks and 4½ octave range afforded him opportunities in black entertainment that might not have been available to him in white Hollywood. His remarkable talents and ambition drove him to success in a world not his own, but in which he felt at home."
- ^ Halper, Donna L.. "Hats off to a Happy Cowboy: A Salute to Herb Jeffries". Classic Images. http://www.classicimages.com/articles/2010/06/02/past_articles/jeffriesherb.txt. Retrieved 2010-07-04. "In addition to being the first all-black singing cowboy film, Harlem on the Prairie was unique in several other ways. Black films of that era usually played in black theaters only. (One estimate stated that there were as many as 500 black theaters nation-wide around the time when Herb Jeffries' first movie came out.) But this movie was not just relegated to the segregated movie houses; it was also shown in a few East and West Coast theaters where the audiences were mainly white."
[edit] Bibliography
- James Lincoln Collier, Duke Ellington (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987) ISBN 0-19-503770-7
- Richard Cook and Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide To Jazz on CD, 6th Edition (London, Penguin Books, 2002) ISBN 0-14-017949-6
