Herb Jeffries

This record is about as late-40s sounding as you can get. It's Herb Jeffries in an apparent "magenta mood" - and if by that Mercury meant music of an oversaturated romantic hue, the title is apt.

Jeffries is quite a fascinating fellow (he's still around - a 96-year-old with a MySpace page). In the 30s, he made cowboy movies for the African American audience. In the early 40s he was a vocalist for Duke Ellington during one of that great musician's greatest periods. And thereafter he made many records as a romantic balladeer. These are excellent examples.

The song Flamingo has been Jeffries' calling card ever since he recorded it with Ellington. This is a different version from that one, and he recorded it again in the early 1950s. (There's an LP on Coral by that name.)

The anonymous arrangements are in the hyper-romantic style popular back then, and there are a number of cool period touches, like the Porgy and Bess-style street cries in Basin Street Blues and the Warsaw Concerto-style piano in When I Write My Song.

Almost none of Herb Jeffries' records are available these days. It's too bad that such a talented person is not better remembered - and even celebrated.

REUP (May 2014)