One for Ellington fans - vocalists

[mmilovan]

According to one source:

"...Herb Jeffries is still alive, age 93, very

healthy, and still performs!"

Nice to see that!

[king ubu]

Where did you get that from? He's got his own website, so it seems he gotta be around...

I recently got his Bethlehem album, and I rather like it. Cool cover, too:

ubu

[LAL]

Joya Sherill is still around. She last recorded a Duke tribute album in 2000 with (Danish/Swedish?) musicians.

[jazzbo]

Gonna have to look for that one. I'm partly in love with Joya Sherrill. . . . I'll have to watch my Çanadian Bell Telephone Hour video again soon. . .. B)

[JSngry]

Played a gig a while back w/a drummer passing thru town on his way to work a Herb Jefferies gig at some ranch in Colorado.

You ever see how he works his jawbone when he sings? WTF!

[medjuck]

Jeffries shows up at LA Duke Ellington Society meetings every so often. Though I'm not sure how recently. (To misquote Douglas Adams-- anything that happened since the Beatles broke up is recent to me.) He has a very girl friend.

Edited February 26, 2004 by medjuck

[JSngry]

How very girl is she?

[brownie]

Missed him by a couple of days when I was in New York back in 2000. He was at the Village Vanguard for a few days. Heard an interview of him on the radio at the time. With a few samples. His voice was superb.

My favorite ducal male singer, right next to Al Hibbler.

Will spin 'Flamingo', his 1940 hit tune with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, later today. Love it!

[EKE BBB]

Ellington was somehow criticized because his vocalists didn´t get the high standards of his instrumentalists. What do you think about it?

Here´s an excerpt from an article by Robb Holmes, including a few Ellington quotes from "Music is my mistress":

Ellington had his imperfections, both personally and musically. It has been noted by others that his vocalists rarely lived up to the high standards of his instrumentalists. Many writers have wondered at this, but Duke explained it, perhaps unwittingly, in his memoirs.

When he discusses singers, Duke repeatedly picks one aspect for praise: "a tribute to her diction and articulation" (Joya Sherrill)... "every word was understandable" (Betty Roche)... "I should mention first his clear, understandable enunciation" (Al Hibbler)... "his perfect enunciation of the words gave the blues a new dimension" (Joe Williams).

Diction was all-important to Ellington. In his memoirs, he recounts how Miss Boston, the principal of his elementary school, "would explain the importance of proper speech.... When we went out into the world, we would have the grave responsibility of being practically always on stage.... She taught us that proper speech and good manners were our first obligations, because as representatives of the Negro race we were to command respect for our people." He learned his lesson well, and he applied it to his singers.

Duke never insisted that when Johnny Hodges blew a note, the listener had to be able to tell immediately whether it was an E- flat or a D. It has been said that one of his most important innovations was in deploying his instruments as though they were voices, but he seems to have been unable to treat his voices as instruments. He chose his singers at least partly on the basis of a non-musical consideration, and it showed. Apparently, Billie Holiday did not pass the test. (She recorded with Duke once, at the age of sixteen.)

Perhaps Ellington's attitude toward singers represents a lapse in his usually impeccable taste, but even so, it was an integral part of his personal value system, which drove him to rise ever higher, becoming a sophisticated citizen of the world and a composer of the first rank. And for all that his method of choosing singers may have been flawed, he did not choose so badly. Ellington's vocalists suffer in comparison with his instrumental voices, but they can be compared favorably to most band singers of the era. Ivie Anderson, Betty Roche, Herb Jeffries, Al Hibbler... each had his or her strengths, and each produced some memorable performances.

Even so, it is worth noting that Duke's most memorable vocal recordings are those in which diction is irrelevant: the wordless vocals, from Adelaide Hall's plaintive wail on Creole Love Call in 1927, to Kay Davis's 1947 solo on Transbluecency, to Mahalia Jackson's hummed final chorus on Come Sunday in 1958.

[JSngry]

It has been said that one of his most important innovations was in deploying his instruments as though they were voices, but he seems to have been unable to treat his voices as instruments.

Ooooh, but that overlooks several crazy postwar things he did for RCA with a vocal group that didn't function as a vocal group but as an intertwining melange of sound. Kinda like the vocal breaks on "Dance To The Music", only not.

[mmilovan]

Flurin,

I've got this info from 78-l mailing list (dedicated to sound of 78rpm era).

I also got this anecdote from there:

By 1941 "Flamingo" was so popular and well-known song way back then, and there was question:

"What song do flamingoes sing?

'Herb JEFF-ries....'"

BTW, Agustin

Ivie Anderson, Herb Jeffries, Al Hibbler are among my best big band vocalist anytime. How can anyone forgett for an example Ivie Anderson and her version of "I've Got It Bad" (both in studio and radio/transcription/soundie versions).

Edited February 27, 2004 by mmilovan

[king ubu]

thanks for sharing, Milan!

EKE, I would have to listen closely to his sides with the Duke, but on that Bethlehem album I posted above, his voice is good. He's sort of a crooner, I think. At least on that album there's no real fast number, but there are several songs he does very very fine.

ubu

[Christiern]

Frankly, I never cared for Jeffries' singing. In fact, Duke had a remarkable succession of rather un-happening singers, IMO.

[mmilovan]

This is also from 78-l about Ellington vocalists:

Someone recently asked Herb - how many times has he sung "Flamingo"?

The answer from Herb, himself, was:

"So many times that I now sing it standing on one leg"

[Pete C]

I don't much care for Ellington's male vocalists.

Betty Roche, however, was one of the great underrated female vocalists. Her 2 prestige albums are really excellent. I haven't heard her Bethlehem material.

Edited February 28, 2004 by Pete C

[EKE BBB]

BTW, Agustin

Ivie Anderson, Herb Jeffries, Al Hibbler are among my best big band vocalist anytime. How can anyone forgett for an example Ivie Anderson and her version of "I've Got It Bad" (both in studio and radio/transcription/soundie versions).

I think my favorite vocals in Ellingtonia are Adelaida Hall´s wordless singing in 1927 (October, 26) version of "Creole Love Call" for Victor

[EKE BBB]

A good guide to vocals included through the recorded Ellington can be found at A DUKE ELLINGTON PANORAMA website (click "Vocalists" link)

[mikeweil]

Al Hibbler tops my list. Without him and Rahsaan Roland Kirk on that beautiful Atlantic LP "A Meeting Of The Times", I probably never would have bcome an Ellington fan.

Still have to check out Joya Sherrill and Betty Roché. Jeffries is nice, but not quite my cup of tea.

[David Williams]

from an article by Robb Holmes:

it is worth noting that Duke's most memorable vocal recordings are those in which diction is irrelevant: the wordless vocals, from Adelaide Hall's plaintive wail on Creole Love Call in 1927, to Kay Davis's 1947 solo on Transbluecency, to Mahalia Jackson's hummed final chorus on Come Sunday in 1958.

I don't agree with that statement at all. I love Creole Love Call and Transbluecency, but the vocals are an effective part of the whole, rather than exceptional in themselves. Mahalia's vocalised chorus on Come Sunday is not as effective as her sung choruses by a long chalk, to my ears.

Ivie Anderson's 'I Got It Bad'.... perhaps my favourite vocal performance bar none.

[Pete C]

Al Hibbler tops my list. Without him and Rahsaan Roland Kirk on that beautiful Atlantic LP "A Meeting Of The Times", I probably never would have bcome an Ellington fan.

I generally don't like Hibbler, but he's so wonderfully over the top on that one that I love it.

[brownie]

Ivie Anderson's 'I Got It Bad'.... perhaps my favourite vocal performance bar none.

Ivie Anderson was THE Duke Ellington singer. She was never equalled.

[Christiern]

Ivie anderson and Betty Roché

Al Hibbler

[brownie]

Ivie Anderson

Adelaide Hall

Betty Roche

Al Hibbler

Herb Jeffries

[mikeweil]

Al Hibbler tops my list. Without him and Rahsaan Roland Kirk on that beautiful Atlantic LP "A Meeting Of The Times", I probably never would have bcome an Ellington fan. 

I generally don't like Hibbler, but he's so wonderfully over the top on that one that I love it.

There is a very nice Reprise LP with a Gerald-Wilson-led orchestra, where he projects unbelievable warmth. Was reissued on a Discovery LP, don't know if it ever was on CD, but that may convert a few here.

[mmilovan]

Ivie Anderson

Adelaide Hall

Betty Roche

Al Hibbler B)

Herb Jeffries

Edited February 29, 2004 by mmilovan