Biography

Though he started out in the pre-swing era of the 1920s, jazz singer/bandleader Cab Calloway eventually became one of the most important figures in early swing. The Rochester, NY-born Calloway was nothing if not an entertainer; dressed in flamboyant zoot suits and wide-brimmed hats, he'd tear up the stage while leading some of the finest jazz musicians of the '30s and '40s. Doc Cheatham, Chu Berry, Dizzy Gillespie, Ben Webster, and Milt Hinton were just some of the titans that passed through the Calloway orchestra's ranks. Best known for the scat-filled tale of lost love and drug addiction "Minnie the Moocher," Calloway was the toast of Harlem in its heyday, and also appeared in numerous films.

Top Tracks

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• A Chicken Ain't Nothin' But A Bird

• Are You All Reet?

• Are You Hep To The Jive?

• At The Clambake Carnival

• Boog It

• Calloway Boogie

• Chant Of The Jungle

• Eadie Was A Lady

• Everybody Eats When They Come To My House

• Give, Baby, Give

• Harlem Camp Meeting

• Harlem Holiday

• Hey Now, Hey Now

• I Want To Rock

• Jive (page One Of The Hepster's Dictionary)

• Jumpin' Jive

• Jungle King (you Ain't Done A Doggone Thing)

• Keep That Hi-de-hi In Your Soul

• Kickin' The Gong Around

• Minnie The Moocher

• Minnie The Moocher's Wedding Day

• Oh Grandpa

• Old Yazoo

• One For My Baby (and One More For The Road)

• Pero Que Jelengue

• Reefer Man

• She's Tall, She's Tan, She's Teriffic

• Six Or Seven Times

• Sweet Georgia Brown

• That Man Is Here Again

• The Calloway Boogie

• The Duck Trot

• The Hi De Ho Man

• The Jumpin' Jive

• The Jungle King (you Ain't Done A Doggone Thing)

• The Viper's Drag

• Utt-da-zay

• Who's Yehoodi?

• Zaz Zuh Zaz

Discography

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• Stands in for the Moon

  American Clave/Pangaea

  1988

• Hello, Dolly!

  RCA Victor

  1968

• Blues Make Me Happy

  1962

• Hi-De-Hi, Hi-De-Ho

  1959

• The Cotton Club Revue of Cab Calloway

  Gone

  1958