Helen Humes

Helen Humes possessed remarkable vocal range, handling blues material, swing standards, and ballads with equal command while projecting a cheerful tone that listeners found consistently delightful. During childhood she accompanied services on piano and organ, then cut her first sides—ten blues numbers—in 1927 at ages thirteen and fourteen. Throughout the 1930s she performed alongside Stuff Smith and Al Sears, and she also documented sessions with Harry James between 1937 and 1938. In 1938 she entered Count Basie’s Orchestra, remaining three years; because Jimmy Rushing already covered the blues features, Humes was assigned primarily pop ballads yet delivered them effectively. Following independent work in New York from 1941 to 1943 and a subsequent road stint with Clarence Love through 1944, she relocated to Los Angeles. There she launched her own recording career, scoring success with “Be-Baba-Leba,” while her self-penned 1950 track “Million Dollar Secret” later became recognized as a standard. She appeared occasionally with Jazz at the Philharmonic yet spent most of the 1950s working as a solo act. Between 1959 and 1961 she produced three outstanding albums for Contemporary and also traveled with Red Norvo. In 1964 she settled in Australia, only to return to the United States in 1967 to attend to her mother’s declining health. Several years away from performance followed, until a complete resurgence in 1973 kept her active until her passing. Across her lifetime she contributed recordings to Savoy, Aladdin, Mercury, Decca, Dootone, Contemporary, Classic Jazz, Black & Blue, Black Lion, Jazzology, Columbia, and Muse.