Herb Flemming

Herb Flemming or Fleming (April 5, 1898, Butte, Montana – October 3, 1976, New York City) was an American jazz trombonist and vocalist who played extensively in Europe.

Flemming was born Nicolaiih El-Michelle, and was of North African descent. Flemming studied music and played mellophone and euphonium at Dobbs Chauncey School in Dobbs Ferry, New York before switching to trombone. He was a member of James Reese Europe's 15th New York National Guard Band with Eugene Mikell, and then Europe's 369th U.S. Infantry Band in France in 1917. After the war, he also studied at the Frank Damrosch Conservatory in New York, playing cello there; later studied at the St. Cecilia Academy in Florence and the University of Rome. He played with Fred Tunstall in 1921 and recorded with Johnny Dunn before joining Sam Wooding and Bobby Lee's band in Philadelphia. Wooding left the U.S. to tour Europe in the mid-1920s, and Flemming continued to play with him Stateside when they returned in 1927. Late in the 1920s he joined Lew Leslie's Blackbirds show, which toured London and Paris toward the end of the decade.

Around 1930 he formed his own band in Europe, the International Rhythm Aces, in addition to doing continued work with Wooding. They collaborated in Berlin, then Flemming found work accompanying Josephine Baker. He appeared in Buenos Aires with his ensemble early in the decade. In 1933 he played in Paris, and then made tour appearances in Calcutta, Shanghai, and Ceylon. In the mid-1930s he also worked as a vocalist in Berlin (1935–37), and played with Sestto Carlin's Society Orchestra in Italy. In 1936 he interpreted for the U.S. at the Olympic Games.

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