Herb Jeffries
, a fine
ballad
singer with a strong voice, will always be remembered for his early-'40s stint with
Duke Ellington
's orchestra and for his hit of the period,
"Flamingo."
Through the decades,
Jeffries
retained his strong voice (even in 2003 at the age of 92) while being content to sing pretty straight.
If I Were King/I Remember the Bing
reissues a pair of albums that
recorded for the tiny
Dobre
label in 1978 when he was just 67. Accompanied by pianist
Lou Levy
, bassist
Fred Atwood
, drummer
John Dentz
, and (on the first set) guitarist
Joe Diorio
,
performs eight songs associated with
Nat King Cole
and ten in tribute to the recently deceased
Bing Crosby
.
does not try to sound like either singer (other than on
Crosby
's theme,
"Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)"
) and instead just sings in his own style. While the
Nat Cole
songs were all hits of his, a few of the
Bing
numbers such as
"I'll Wind,"
"What's New,"
"Poinciana,"
and
"I Apologize"
(the latter is actually a
Billy Eckstine
hit) are not as closely associated with
, but they all work well in this context. This single CD two-fer gives listeners a strong sampling of
' singing. ~ Scott Yanow