Cab Calloway was a jazz singer, bandleader, songwriter, dancer and actor who came to fame as a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he blended jazz and vaudeville to establish a niche that stood him in good stead as an entertainer across seven decades, with one of his most famous roles in later years coming in the 1980 “Blues Brothers” movie. He developed a personal style of scat singing, and was able to deliver novelty-flavoured material with swinging jazz credibility, assembling a band that over the years included jazz luminaries like Ben Webster, Milt Hinton, Doc Cheatham, Chu Berry, Cozy Cole, Dizzy Gillespie and others. This excellent-value 48-track 2-CD set features the releases from this era on the Brunswick, Victor, Variety, Vocalion, Okeh, Columbia and ABC-Paramount labels which were credited with chart positions, plus a few bonus tracks. Those 45 hits include the No. 1 “Minnie The Moocher” and the Top 5 hits “Kickin’ The Gong Around”, “St. James Infirmary”, “Tickeration”, “Minnie The Moocher’s Wedding Day”, “Chinese Rhythm”, “Moonglow”, “Angels With Dirty Faces”, “The Jumpin’ Jive”, “Blues In The Night” and “The Honey Dripper”. He was a unique personality, and these recordings underline his skill and versatility in performing fine swinging jazz while giving it a highly individual comedic twist, and we hope this collection of his best sellers from the era provides an entertaining showcase for his distinctive talents.
