Cab Calloway Official Site

1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980

1930

• Cab records his signature song “Minnie the Moocher”, the first musical recording by a black artist to sell 1 million records.
• Cab and his band become among of the first black performers to tour the US South and Europe.
• Cab stars in numerous film productions including Al Jolson’s “The Singing Kid” and Max Fleischer Betty Boop animations.

1940

• Cab popularizes the zoot suit with his performance in “Stormy Weather”, one of the first films to feature an all-black cast.
• Cab publishes the “Hepster’s Dictionary”, the first known literary collection of Harlem slang terminology.
• Cab tours Cuba and experiments with Cuban Jazz and singing in Spanish.

1950

• Cab performs on Broadway, as well as Paris and London, in Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” as Sportin’ Life, a character Gershwin originally wrote for Cab in the 1930s.
• Cab tours South America three times with smaller bands.
• Cab stars in the film St. Louis Blues with Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, Ruby Dee, and Pearl Bailey.

1960

• Cab returns to Broadway in the all-black revue of “Hello Dolly"
• Cab performs on the Ed Sullivan Show with his daughter, vocalist Chris Calloway.
• Cab performs as the halftime show for the Harlem Globetrotters.

1970

• Cab gives a lesson on Jive and counts with The Count on Sesame Street.
• Cab co-writes his autobiography “Of Minnie the Moocher and Me”.
• Cab performs at Nice, Newport and North Sea jazz festivals.

1980

• Cab stars in the cult classic film “The Blues Brothers”.
• Cab appears in Janet Jackson’s “Alright” video wearing a classic yellow zoot suit.
• Cab continues to tour the US and Europe.

Zora Neale Hurston was born on this day in Notasul

Zora Neale Hurston was born on this day in Notasulga, Alabama, in 1891, and raised in Eatonville, Florida. Eatonville was established in 1887 and was the nation’s first incorporated African-American township. Hurston loved Eatonville, calling it, “A city of five lakes, three croquet courts, three hundred brown skins, three hundred good swimmers, plenty of guavas, two schools, and no jailhouse.” Many of Hurston’s stories and novels take place in Eatonville.

She got a scholarship to Barnard College, where she was the sole black student. She wrote a lot of stories, and graduated with a degree in anthropology, and when she finally landed in Harlem with $1.50 in her pocket and no job, she found herself smack in the middle of the Harlem Renaissance, and made friends with writers like Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. Zora Neale Hurston died in Florida in 1960, penniless. Her neighbors had to take up a collection for her funeral, but they didn’t have enough money for a headstone. Her papers were ordered to be burned, but a friend saved them and gave them to the University of Florida.

-The Writer's Almanac-

Zora Neale Hurston said, “I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions.”

#zoranealehurston #TheTruthThatNeedsToBeTold

Interesting comments from Shabbadoo who sadly pass

Interesting comments from Shabbadoo who sadly passed away this past Wednesday. Dance in Peace.

#repost @officialshabbadoo
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Pre-Breakin’ film variety show television era publicity still.

Show:
The Big Show
Series regular Choreographer
NBC
1979-80 Season

History note:

With the utmost love and respect... After reading Cab Calloway’s book of Minnie the Moocher and Me, It was always my bucket list dream to play the great Cab in film or on Broadway!

I actually worked with him on Cotton Club, a network television special on NBC as a founding member of The Lockers.

#cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #hepsters #HepstersDictionary #reeferman #innovators #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #cabcallowayfoundation

Thank you for the many birthday wishes! The next

Thank you for the many birthday wishes! The next year holds the promise of change. The enduring legacy of Cab Calloway in the arts and entertainment is also alive in Black Culture and in its many contributions to American culture. His legacy is thriving in education and is built on innovation and re-invention. Hep! Hep!

#repost @myskincolorisnotacrime
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Happy Birthday Mr. Cab Calloway 🎶🎵🎶
Reeferman 🍃🌿

#December25th #HappyBirthday #CabCalloway #Musician #BandLeader #Dancer #Singer #Actor #Jazz #Blues #Soul #Music #BlackExcellence #BlackEntertainment #BlackHistory #BlackEmpowerment #BlackKnowledge #BlackCulture #cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #HepstersDictionary #reeferman #HarlemRenaissance #StormyWeather #cabcallowayfoundation

Thanks to @elpachucozootsuits for the reminder! Ca

Thanks to @elpachucozootsuits for the reminder! Cab Calloway brought style to the stage. Beside being the original emcee, he was a bandleader, dancer, movie star, Broadway star, and a fashion icon.

#repost @elpachucozootsuits
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Happy Birthday Cab Calloway! One of the original Zoot Suiters! Thank you Arafat Martinez Acosta for the reminder!

During the 1930s, dance halls were popular venues for socializing, swing dancing and easing the economic stress of the Great Depression. Nowhere was this more true than in the uptown Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, home of the famed Harlem Renaissance.

Style-conscious Harlem dancers began wearing loose-fitting clothes that accentuated their movements. Men donned baggy trousers with cuffs carefully tapered to prevent tripping; long jackets with heavily padded shoulders and wide lapels; long, glittering watch chains and hats ranging from porkpies and fedoras to broad-brimmed sombreros.
The image of these so-called “zoot suits” spread quickly and was popularized by performers such as Cab Calloway, who, in his Hepster’s Dictionary, called the zoot suit “the ultimate in clothes. The only totally and truly American civilian suit.”

#fullerton #santaana #anaheim #chicano #elpachuco #pachuco #pachucos #elpachucozootsuits #zootsuit #zootsuitlife #masfirme #firme #theoriginalzootsuit #icon #iconicelpachuco #eastlos #cityofangels #lowrider

#cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #HepstersDictionary #reeferman #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #StormyWeather

Cab Calloway was born on Christmas Day in Rocheste

Cab Calloway was born on Christmas Day in Rochester, NY in 1907.

Merry Christmas! And Happy Hi-De-Ho-lidays to all!

This was one of his Christmas cards.

#cabcalloway #hepsters #HepstersDictionary #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather #kickinthegongaround #ChristmasDay

Cab Calloway and Nuffie MacNeal Calloway have alwa

Cab Calloway and Nuffie MacNeal Calloway have always valued education as the underlying opportunity that creates possibilities.

#cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #hepsters #HepstersDictionary #reeferman #rotoscope #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #BettyBoop #SmokeyJoe #SesameStreet #muppets #standwithteachers
#jazzvocalist #tuxedo #teachrock #cabcallowayfoundation

Cab Calloway and Nuffie MacNeal Calloway have alwa

Cab Calloway and Nuffie MacNeal Calloway have always valued education as the underlying opportunity that creates possibilities. Arts & Sciences... all.

#cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #hepsters #HepstersDictionary #reeferman #rotoscope #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #BettyBoop #SmokeyJoe #SesameStreet #muppets #standwithteachers
#jazzvocalist #tuxedo #teachrock #cabcallowayfoundation

Icon living Almost 90 years apart. Cab Calloway i

Icon living
Almost 90 years apart.
Cab Calloway is one of the first Black cultural icons and his legacy endures.

#repost @bryanosamples
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Jaden - Icon (2017)
Cab Calloway - The hi-de-ho (That’s me) (1930)

#sample #samples #samplesource #sampling #samplingsource #hiphopsample #hiphopsamples #2010smusic #2017 #10smusic #rap #rapus #rapmusic #1930smusic #1930 #30smusic #jazz #jazzmusic #orchestre #jadensmith #cabcalloway #rocnation @c.syresmith @cabcalloway @rocnation

Thank you @nightflightofficial for the recognition

Thank you @nightflightofficial for the recognition and appreciation! Hep! Hep!

#repost @nightflightofficial
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@cabcalloway
#cabcalloway #stjamesinfirmaryblues #saintjamesinfirmaryblues #snowwhite #snowwhitebettyboop #bettyboopsnowwhite #bettyboop #maxfleischer #davefleischer #rolandcrandall #fleischerstudios #maequestel #1933

Instagram post 17877601546966575

Instagram post 17877601546966575

As part of the 2015 celebration of 100 years from

As part of the 2015 celebration of 100 years from the day Max Fleischer submitted a patent for the Rotoscope @fleischerstudios put together a compilation of vintage live action and rotoscoped footage from two early Fleischer films featuring jazz great Cab Calloway: Minnie the Moocher and Snow White. Viewing the footage from these remarkable films side-by-side reveals the level of naturalistic detail that the animators were able to achieve using the rotoscope, and the playful, imaginative and sometimes bizarre ways in which they were able to use it as the jumping off point for expressing their own vision, artistry and humor.

#Calloween is coming.

#cabcalloway #maxfleischer #bettyboop #rockinpins #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather #kickinthegongaround #bimbo #rotoscope #kokotheclown

Hi-De-Hi-De-Hiiiii Ho-De-Ho-De Hoooo.... #Callowe

Hi-De-Hi-De-Hiiiii
Ho-De-Ho-De Hoooo....

#Calloween is coming.

#cabcalloway #maxfleischer #bettyboop #rockinpins #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather #kickinthegongaround #bimbo #rotoscope #kokotheclown

Happy Birthday to Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (1917-

Happy Birthday to Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) who was one of the greatest jazz artists of all time. He is one of the fathers of bebop, modern jazz, and he also played an important role in the development of latin jazz.

Mario Bauzá (1911-1993) was a classically-trained Cuban musician and arranger working in New York City. In the 1930’s Bauzá was lead trumpeter and musical director of Chick Webb’s Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom. Chick Webb led one of the best Swing bands there ever was. That is where Bauzá first met the young Dizzy Gillespie. Later Bauzá brought Gillespie into Cab Calloway’s band.

Latin and jazz blended together so well that now it seems like they’ve always been together. Actually they have, but that’s another story. Anyway it was Dizzy’s ear that brought latin percussion into mainstream jazz.

From New York Latin Culture Magazine

PS: Dizzy was literally a pain in Cab's behind. So the story goes... Hep Hep!

#Cab Calloway #DizzyGillespie #latinjazz #bebop #cubop #MarioBauzá #tanga #cuba ##hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather #kickinthegongaround @newyorklatinculture

Looking forward to seeing some of this fine @arthu

Looking forward to seeing some of this fine @arthursingerestate artwork at @rockinpins #repost @rockinpins website store. Hep! Hep!
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🎶Cab Calloway shirts are arriving!🎶
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Thank you for rockin it @ivansangasong #Cabcalloway @cabcalloway @arthursingerestate @cabcallowayfoundation

#repost @rockinpins ・・・ 🤍Betty Boop & Fri

#repost @rockinpins
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🤍Betty Boop & Friends🖤
.
RockinPins.com #BettyBoop #KokoTheClown #BimbotheDog #CabCalloway

It all started when... Max Fleischer was worki

It all started when...

Max Fleischer was working as the Art Editor for Popular Science Magazine when, in 1915, he filed a patent application for a contraption he called the Rotoscope. Convinced that he could improve the jerky, jumping quality of early animated films, Max set out to create a mechanism by which animators could use live action film as a guide for their drawings, giving animated characters more fluid, life-like movement.

With the Rotoscope built and Dave, Max's younger brother, playing the featured role of the clown... & after a year of painstaking work, a one minute film would change animation forever.

Years later, Fleischer would rotoscope Cab Calloway and more magic was created than we can comprehend. St. James Infirmary Blues. Old Man of the Mountain. Minnie the Moocher. and more!

#cabcalloway #maxfleischer #bettyboop #rockinpins #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather #kickinthegongaround #bimbo #rotoscope #kokotheclown

We are blowing our wigs at this fine shirt with th

We are blowing our wigs at this fine shirt with this killer filler art by Arthur Singer. They are going fast .
Available @rockinpins
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🎶Cab Calloway🎶
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Excited to release our first limited edition collaboration with the @cabcalloway estate! RockinPins.com #CabCalloway #Jazz #MinnieTheMoocher #ZootSuit #Lowrider #Chicano #ArthurSinger #hepstersdictionary

On this day in 1935, George Gershwin completed th

On this day in 1935, George Gershwin completed the score for the opera Porgy and Bess. After reading the novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward, set in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina, it was the story of a crippled beggar named Porgy, a beautiful drug addict named Bess, and her abusive lover, Crown. Gershwin envisioned it as an opera, and wrote Heyward asking to collaborate. The novelist agreed, but not before he and his wife finished adapting the novel into a play, which had a new ending and became a hit on Broadway.
Then Heyward received a request for the musical rights to Porgy from a famous white actor, who wanted to play Porgy in blackface and collaborate with a different composer and lyricist. Feeling desperate after losing money in the stock market, Heyward asked whether they could consider bringing the white actor into the project, but Gershwin was adamant that he wanted a black cast.
While he was writing Porgy, Gershwin received a letter from a young soprano, Anne Brown, a Juilliard graduate student; she had heard that Gershwin was writing an opera and wanted an interview. She brought music by Brahms and Schubert, and Gershwin played along as she sang. When he asked her to sing a spiritual, Brown was offended and told him so — she didn't think black people should be expected to sing spirituals. He backed off, but she changed her mind and sang "A City Called Heaven" a cappella. Gershwin was so moved that he was speechless.He called Brown back, explaining that he had written the first 33 pages of his opera, asking if she would return to sing the role of Bess. Before the show opened, he decided that her role was so important he changed the name of his opera from Porgy to Porgy and Bess.
Despite many positive reviews, Porgy and Bess was a commercial flop, running a few months and losing its initial $70,000 investment.
In 1953 Cab, Leontyne Price, Urylee Leonardos, and a young, aspiring Maya Angelou revived Porgy & Bess.
It was, this time, a great success.

@dapperdanharlem recently posted about "The Meanin

@dapperdanharlem recently posted about "The Meanings in Fashion". Cab Calloway in a Zoot suit and the relevance of the Zoot suit riots and the impact of fashion as an actual medium of change. We salute that focus of attention on the intention.

Before Cab Calloway, in the 1930s, the Duke of Windsor and European style dominated the international fashion discourse. Meanwhile, street fashion bubbled up from the Pachucos, young Mexican-American youths sported an appropriated and modified version of a flamboyant long jacket with baggy pegged pants, sometimes accessorized with a pork pie hat, a long watch chain, and shoes with thick soles.

As one of the earliest, street savvy, transcultural diffusers, Cab decolonized street fashion and Saville row tuxedo tailoring by exaggerating the outfits for his live shows. Starting with the full dress tuxedo with tails, then with the zoot suit for his 1942 role in ‘Stormy Weather’, Cab claims he started the trend of multi-colored tuxedos and that Liberace was his only sartorial competition.

Zoot Suit Riots June 3–8, 1943

Stormy Weather released July 21, 1943

Do you think the synchronicity of fashion declaring an ethnic visual territory and a film diffusing cultural validity was a coincidence?

“My idea was to be immaculate, to be dressed to the finest…and to put on an ordinary suit, I didn’t think would be the way to display that.” Cab Calloway

This repost of Cab in his most righteous vines rif

This repost of Cab in his most righteous vines riffin’ and scattin’! The original emcee/frontman bringing it for real. Thanks for the #repost @xjsteel
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Lena Horne and Nuffie MacNeal Calloway were friend

Lena Horne and Nuffie MacNeal Calloway were friends before Nuffie met Cab. When Cab, not knowing this, introduced Nuffie to Lena... it was all the laughing that drowned out Cab's big smile.

Born on this day in 1917 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY Lena Horne at 16 began singing at the Cotton Club in Harlem beginning a long and illustrious career as an actress and as a civil rights activist.

During World War II, when entertaining the troops for the USO, she refused to perform "for segregated audiences or for groups in which German POWs were seated in front of black servicemen", according to her Kennedy Center biography. Because the U.S. Army refused to allow integrated audiences, she staged her show for a mixed audience of black U.S. soldiers and white German POWs. Seeing the black soldiers had been forced to sit in the back seats, she walked off the stage to the first row where the black troops were seated and performed with the Germans behind her. After quitting the USO in 1945 because of the organization's policy of segregating audiences, Horne financed tours of military camps herself.

She was at an NAACP rally with Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi, the weekend before Evers was assassinated. She also met President John F. Kennedy at the White House two days before he was assassinated. She was at the March on Washington and spoke and performed on behalf of the NAACP, SNCC, and the National Council of Negro Women. She also worked with Eleanor Roosevelt to pass anti-lynching laws

“My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman. I’m free. I no longer have to be a ‘credit.’ I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody; I don’t have to be a first to anybody. I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.”
—Lena Horne

The racism that Cab experienced across the US was

The racism that Cab experienced across the US was pervasive. He crossed many barriers because of his celebrity, but the band and he could not stay in hotels in the South... instead they stayed in people's homes. They couldn't get food unless a "white" person or someone who could "pass" could go into a restaurant and score. The dog whistles and the dogs are still with us. If there is no Justice there is no Hope. If there is no Hope, there is no Peace. Let's keep Justice and Hope alive. #BlackLIvesMatter #cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #kickingthegongaround #GeechyJoe #jazzvocalist #zazzuhzaz #geechyjoe #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather

The racism that Cab experienced across the US was

The racism that Cab experienced across the US was pervasive. He crossed many barriers because of his celebrity, but the band and he could not stay in hotels in the South... instead they stayed in people's homes. They couldn't get food unless a "white" person or someone who could "pass" could go into a restaurant and score. The dog whistles and the dogs are still with us. If there is no Justice there is no Hope. If there is no Hope, there is no Peace. Let's keep Justice and Hope alive.
#BlackLIvesMatter #cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #kickingthegongaround #GeechyJoe
#jazzvocalist #zazzuhzaz #geechyjoe #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather

Instagram post 18144963358003556

Instagram post 18144963358003556

innovator... in every sense of the word #repost @

innovator... in every sense of the word

#repost @rockinpins
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🎶Minnie The Moocher🎶
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A little Cab Calloway to brighten your day! #CabCalloway #BettyBoop #KokoTheClown #FleischerStudios

Happy Birthday to Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May

Happy Birthday to Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano.

This photo of Cab Calloway and Fats Waller and band members was likely taken Just prior to Waller's untimely death from pneumonia in 1943 on the train trip back from LA after performing at the Zanzibar Club in Santa Monica.

#fatswaller #zanzibarclub #cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #kickingthegongaround #GeechyJoe
#jazzvocalist #zazzuhzaz #geechyjoe #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather

#repost @bluesbrothersofficial ・・・ One night

#repost @bluesbrothersofficial
・・・
One night only, one night only, THE BLUES BROTHERS LIVE 😎 can you believe this was 40 years ago?

Hep to the Jive!! #repost @classicsnippets
・・・
‘Ain’t That Something?’ From “Stormy Weather” (1943).
⠀
I highly recommend this movie. This scene alone has Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Cab Calloway & his Orchestra, Lena Horne, The Nicholas Brothers, and Katherine Dunham & her Troupe. Not to mention the other thirteen numbers that include artists like Fats Waller and Ada Brown!

As the temperatures rise, the beaches become more

As the temperatures rise, the beaches become more popular. If Cab were singing at a beach this year, what would the song be? #summertime #beach #summerinthecity #cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #kickingthegongaround #GeechyJoe
#jazzvocalist #zazzuhzaz #geechyjoe #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather

Happy Birthday to Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington

Happy Birthday to Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) whose career spanned five decades and whose influence crossed all the lines. Here is Duke playing Sister Rosetta Tharpe's guitar while Cab Calloway plays Duke's piano. The musical tributes from Brubeck to Mingus, from Miles to Stevie all speak to the one of the greatest band leaders and who alone and in collaboration with Billy Strayhorn created American Classics that will be remembered always. #DukeEllington #SirDuke #TaketheATrain #MoodIndigo #cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #bluesbrothers #rotoscope #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #kickingthegongaround #GeechyJoe
#jazzvocalist #zazzuhzaz #geechyjoe #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #StormyWeather

Happy Birthday to Ella Fitzgerald! (Yesterday). Fi

Happy Birthday to Ella Fitzgerald! (Yesterday). First Lady of Song. Queen of Jazz. Winner of 13 Grammys. 40 million albums sold.

In 1934 Ella's name was pulled in a weekly drawing at the Apollo and she won the opportunity to compete in Amateur Night. Ella went to the theater that night planning to dance, but when the frenzied Edwards Sisters closed the main show, Ella changed her mind. "They were the dancingest sisters around," Ella said, and she felt her act would not compare.

Once on stage, faced with boos and murmurs of "What's she going to do?" from the rowdy crowd, a scared and disheveled Ella made the last minute decision to sing. She asked the band to play Hoagy Carmichael's "Judy," a song she knew well. Ella quickly quieted the audience, and by the song's end they were demanding an encore. She obliged and sang the flip side of the Boswell Sister's record, "The Object of My Affections."
In the band that night was saxophonist and arranger Benny Carter. Impressed with her natural talent, he began introducing Ella to people who could help launch her career. They became lifelong friends, often working together.
In January 1935 at the Harlem Opera House Ella met drummer and bandleader Chick Webb. Although her voice impressed him, Chick had already hired male singer Charlie Linton for the band. He offered Ella the opportunity to test with his band when they played a dance at Yale University. "If the kids like her," Chick said, "she stays." Despite the tough crowd, Ella was a major success, and Chick hired her to travel with the band for $12.50 a week. #EllaFitzgerald #QueenofJazz #cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #reeferman #jumpinjive #bluesbrothers #rotoscope #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #kickingthegongaround #GeechyJoe
#jazzvocalist #zazzuhzaz #geechyjoe #CallowayBoogie #HepToTheJive #ZootSuit #stormyweather

89 years ago today my orchestra and I first record

89 years ago today my orchestra and I first recorded #MinnieTheMoocher, turned out to be a big success. #IrvingMills said I needed a signature song, something to swing the crowd and play hot on the radio if I was going to break through. Well he was right!
Plus... Who knew "Minnie the Moocher" was a Foxtrot? The original sheet music... ©1931 Crazy scat. Call and Response. I know you can hear it in your head.

#cabcalloway #hepsters #jumpinjive #minniethemoocher #hideho #hidehoman #hepsters #reeferman #jumpinjive #callowayboogie #rotoscope #Grammys #HarlemRenaissance #CottonClub #scat #moonwalk #StormyWeather #zootsuit #BettyBoop #SmokeyJoe
#LifetimeAchievementAward
#jazzvocalist #savoyballroom #KingDice #BlancheCalloway #zazzuhzaz #geechyjoe #CallowayBoogie
#bluesbrothers

Almost 40 years before Cab... the influence he had

Almost 40 years before Cab... the influence he had on the rise of African American culture and academia cannot be overstated.
#repost @nypl
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#OnThisDay in 1868, sociologist, historian, writer, and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois was born. In honor of his birthday, learn more about his life and career with our electronic resources by visiting the link in our bio.

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Prince was a groovy hep cat, yeah man!

Justin swings the crowd in some ready threads!

Travis muggin’ lightly in sharp drapes, mellow Jack!

Elvis gammin’ in the groove.

Jaden rides the riff in the icon tradition

Bruno breaking it up on the main kick!

Queens of the Stone Age togged to the bricks!

Prince
Prince with the spin moves and splits, yeah man!
Bruno
Bruno has that solid footwork!
Elvis
Elvis gammin' in the groove.
Justin T
Justin knew how to swing the crowd!
Travis
Travis muggin’ lightly in sharp drapes, mellow Jack!
Jaden
Jaden glides in the icon tradition
QOSTA
Queens of the Stone Age togged to the bricks!

Cab at the Smithsonian

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March 10, 2019April 11, 2019

Cab Calloway’s personal film in Haiti featured in Smithsonian’s NMAAHC Great Migration Home Movie Project .

Cab Wins Lifetime Grammy

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March 10, 2019April 22, 2019

Bacharach, Band and Calloway receive Lifetime Achievement Grammy

Alive Inside

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March 10, 2019April 11, 2019

Cab Calloway’s music helps clear the fog of dementia in Sundance award winning documentary “Alive Inside”

Cab inspires King Dice

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March 7, 2019April 11, 2019

Animated character King Dice from “Cuphead” heavily based on Cab Calloway

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