Herb Jeffries

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Herb Jeffries was a singer with the Duke Ellington Orchestra who scored a top hit recording with "Flamingo" in 1941.  Other songs would follow but none matched the success of his pervious fame, that of the first black singing cowboy in the movies.  He was known as the “Bronze Buckaroo” and was always proud of the role he played in paving the way for other African American actors and actresses.  Herb returned to the charts again the late 1940s with the hit "Left A Good Deal in Mobile".  In April 2000, Herb took part in the photograph outside of the NAMM building in Carlsbad, California that assembled some 70 jazz musicians, which was entitled A Great Day in Carlsbad.