Bruce Frasier
People/Entertainment Editor
Desert Sun Online September 28th, 1999
Herb Jeffries’ 88th birthday celebration Friday at the Rock Garden Cafe in Palm Springs was like a hundred-year storm -- a once-in-a-century event.
But, like other hundred-year storms I’ve survived, there was another one two days later.
Jeffries’ party was unusual partly because of his remarkable condition. He doesn’t look a day over 60 and a fan said he’s singing better than he did 50 years ago, when he was 38.
The fact that he just married a woman less than half his age, the attractive, Internet-savvy Savannah doesn’t diminish my respect for him, either.
"I don’t have any reference to (age)," Jeffries said. "We’re subliminally brainwashed with that word ‘old.’ It’s a good commercial word for people who want to make money with it. I don’t believe in it."
Jeffries’ voice ran from soulful to trumpet-like on numbers such as "I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good)," which he did in Duke Ellington’s "Jump for Joy" in 1941, "Ol’ Man River" and "What Kind of Fool Am I." He turned "Satin Doll" into a toe-tapper and "Honeysuckle Rose" into a sexy come-on.
But, with all of the talent at this party staged by Irwin Rubinsky, Jeffries was more of an emcee than a solo performer. Marilyn King of the King Sisters stepped up for a soulful duet of "Summertime" and "Ain’t Necessarily So," and the operatic Daun DeVore later joined him for a different interpretation of "Summertime." Ric Marlow, a former Jimmy Dorsey vocalist, gave a rare rendering of his hit, "A Taste of Honey," the 1962 Grammy winner for Best Instrumental. Ted Grouya, a year older than Jeffries, accompanied him on the theme he wrote for Jeffries in 1941, "Flamingo."
Jeffries isn’t slowing down. He just launched his Flaming O record label with an Ellington tribute he says is the first album of his own that he likes, titled "The Duke and I." He’s also letting actor LeVar Burton direct a movie on his life.