In the annals of popular music, the coveted term "big band baritone" has been reserved and applied to a select few. A singer with this revered vocal timbre has a richer than usual lower and middle range and can sing quite full in this register without compromising quality. Among the singers often referred to as "big band baritone" are most notably: Dick Haymes (by far the most famous exponent of this), Joe Williams, Johnny Hartman, Vic Damone (who never really sang with a big band, but definitely deserves the title),  David Allyn (another great forgotten singer), Johnny Desmond and a few others.

   Unfortunately one of the finest baritones to ever come out of the big band era is seldom if ever mentioned in this company and this is the big voice of Herb Jeffries. Herb started singing more than 50 years ago and had formal vocal training. Simply one brief listen to "Angel Eyes" with Jeffries’ gorgeous full tones wrapping around every word will demonstrate this perfectly. But even more important than the beautiful voice, is the way Herb uses it, interpreting a song. Plainly he has great soul and empathy for what he sings, and his heart is not in his head but deep within the core of the song he delivers. His vocal delivery is basically clean and free of most gimmicks and his diction is impeccable. Herb Jeffries is a class singer.