Duke Ellington: Music is my Mistress

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

166-7

text excerpt

Herb Jeffries was a kid we knew around Detroit. When he got involved in a series of movies as a singing cowboy, he became known as the "Bronze Buckeroo." His style inclined to the falsetto then, but it was very well accepted. We knew his family, and one day we agreed that he would come with us just for the fun of it, expenses, and a little plus. While he was with us, we played quite a few theatres and picture houses. Between shows, while everybody else was playing poker, Herb would be ad-libbing and doing imitations all over the place. He did all the singers of that time, as well as Amos 'n' Andy, and one day he was doing his interpretation of Bing Crosby, when Strayhorn and I both said in unison, "That's it! Don't go any further. Just stay on Bing."

So he did that, and Herb's imitation of Bing was the foundation until Herb's own singing self took over. I think he just forgot he was imitating Bing, and he has been there ever since.

excerpt from 'Duke Ellington: Music is my Mistress' pp. 166-7 (179 words)

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