News today that Herb Jeffries, once the featured singer with Duke Ellington's orchestra, has departed this world. One headline said he was "known for his luscious baritone," and his baritone was luscious, indeed. His best-known song was "Flamingo," and if you hit YouTube you can see a performance of it by Jeffries with Duke, including solos by Lawrence Brown and Johnny Hodges.
The headline also described Jeffries as an "African-American cowboy." It's true that he made movies for what was known as the "sepia market," movies with such titles as "Bronze Buckaroo" and "Harlem Rides the Range." But Jeffries's birth name was Umberto Valentino, his lineage was Irish, Ethiopian and Sicilian, and he looked Sicilian enough to hang out with the Corleones.
Herb Jeffries was one hundred years old.
"Flamingo--flying over the sea..."
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