Although
we have traced the origins of jazz to the city of New Orleans in Louisiana
U.S.A, the music did not gain prominence until it moved north to Chicago and
New York. In fact, it was in Chicago where the word jazz was first coined. It
was spelt JASS at that time and was associated to a style of dance that
accompanied the music coming from the stride piano. Jazz music became popular
in the north because of the migration African American jazz musicians to cities
like Chicago and New York where they could find work and play to audiences
across the board without any consideration to color. The music also received
valuable air time on the radio and there were more clubs that promoted jazz
music. However, some of those early jazz clubs were still very much segregated,
but offered opportunity to African American musicians for their music to be
heard.
The
story of jazz cannot be complete without reference to the venue that served as
the springboard to fame for Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, two of the most
notable bandleaders of their time. The Cotton Club was the most famous of New
York’s nightclubs in the 20’s and 30’s; attracting an audience that often
included the cream of New York society. It was a legendary nightspot in Harlem
and featured prominent black entertainers who performed for white audiences.
The venue first opened in 1920 as the Club Deluxe, on Lennox Ave in Harlem
under the ownership of the first African American heavyweight boxing champion,
Jack Johnson. In 1922 the club was taken over by Owen Madden, a well-known
underworld figure in Manhattan. Madden changed the establishment of the club
and limited the audience to white patrons. He turned Cotton Club into the most
popular cabaret in Harlem and expanded the sitting capacity from 400 to 700. The
fame of the club spread with weekly radio broadcasts of its programs exposing
its musicians to a national audience. The club’s best years were from 1922
to1935 when it was forced to close after the race riots in Harlem.It reopened
in September 1936 and moved downtown to West 48th street where it continued to
operate until June 1940, when it finally closed not being able to regain its
earlier success. During its heyday, the club’s glittering revues provided a
medium for performances by the most prominent jazz musicians of the day. The
house band when the club first opened was Andy Preer’s Cotton Club Syncopators,
and in 1927 after Preer’s death, Duke Ellington’s orchestra was engaged and its
residency became the most celebrated in the club’s history, lasting until 1931.
Most of the principal jazz musicians of the time played at the Cotton Club at
some stage, including Louis Armstrong. However, the club was better known and
identified with the music of Duke Ellington and later on Cab Calloway. Cab
Calloway and his orchestra took over as house band at the club in 1931 and they
too; had a long run of success.
He
was born Cabell Calloway III in Rochester, N.Y. on December 25th, 1907. He was
a bandleader, songwriter and vocalist. He was closely associated with the Cotton
Club and appeared there as a regular performer. He was a master of energetic
scat singing and his band featured trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus
Cheatman, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon Berry, guitarist Danny Baker and
bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway spent his early years growing up in West
Baltimore’s Sugar Hill area, considered at the time as the cultural, political
and business hub of black society. In 1922, his parents realizing his aptitude
for music enrolled him for private voice lessons. He continued to study music
and voice throughout his formal education. Later on, he began playing and
frequenting nightclubs in Baltimore where he met drummer Chick Webb and pianist
Johnny Jones who would become his mentors. Calloway had a sister called Blanche
who was also in show business and after his graduation from high school; he
joined Blanche in a touring production of a popular black musical called,
“Plantation Days.” Cab would later credit Blanche for inspiring him to enter
show business. His main interest was in singing and entertaining and he spent a
lot of time at clubs such as the Dreamland Ballroom, the Sunset Café and Club
Berlin. It was during this time that he met Louis Armstrong who taught him to
sing in the “scat” style. He eventually left school and began singing with a
band called the Alabamians.
In
1930, Calloway joined a failing band called “The Missourians” and transformed
it with a new name, “Cab Calloway and His Orchestra” This band served as backup
to Duke Ellington’s band at the Cotton Club and quickly proved very popular
with audiences across the country. In 1931 Calloway recorded his most famous
song “Minnie the Moocher” with the catchy line chorus “Hi De Ho” earning him
the nickname “The Hi Di Ho Man”The popularity of this song also opened other
avenues in film for Calloway and he along with Ellington were featured on film
more than any other jazz orchestra of the era. In those films, Calloway can be
seen performing a gliding back step dance move which was the precursor to Michael
Jackson’s “moonwalk” and was called “The Buzz” at that time. In 1936, Calloway
made his first movie appearance in “The Singing Kid” alongside Al Jolson. He
sang a number of duets with Jolson and the impact of their style with the
exploration of rhythm and stretching melody was felt deep within American
culture. In the area of music, Calloway’s band was one of the most popular
American jazz bands of the 1930’s. His vocal style is a blend of hot scat
singing and improvisation.
In
1941 Calloway separated with Dizzy after an onstage fracas which led to some
physical altercation. In 1943 he appeared in the 20th Century Fox musical film,
“Stormy Weather” which was one of the first films that featured an all-star
black cast. He also delved a bit into writing and in 1944 he published a
dictionary called “The New Cab Calloway’s Hepsters Dictionary: Language of
Jive. Calloway and his band also starred in an all-black full length film named
after the chorus to his song “Hi De Ho”. Throughout the 40’s, Calloway and his
band stayed busy touring and promoting the films that they made, but because of
bad financial decisions as well as Calloway’s gambling habit, the band was
forced to break up.
In
the 1950’s he moved his family from Long Island to Greenburg, N. Y. but continued
to appear in a number of films and stage productions that used both his acting
and singing talents. In 1952, he played the prominent role of “Sportin’ Life”
in a production of George Gershwin opera “Porgy and Bess”. In 1967, he appeared
in the Ed Sullivan Show and also co-starred opposite Pearl Bailey in an
all-black cast version of “Hello Dolly”. In 1973-74, he again appeared in a
Broadway revival of “The Pajama Game” alongside Barbara McNair. In 1976 he
released his autobiography entitled, “Of Minnie the Moocher and Me”. In 1980,
he attracted renewed interest and appeared as a supporting character in the
film “The Blues Brothers” performing “Minnie the Moocher”. He also appeared in
“Sesame Street” and the movie “Forbidden City”. In the 80’s, Calloway helped
establish the Cab CallowayMuseum at Coppin State College in Baltimore, Maryland
and in the same year, Bill Cosby helped establish a scholarship in Calloway’s
name at the New School of Research in Manhattan.
In
1990, Calloway was the focus of Janet Jackson’s video “Alright” where he made a
cameo appearance playing the role of himself at the end of the video. In 1994,
a creative and performing arts school was opened and dedicated in his honor in
Wilmington, Delaware. It was called The Cab Calloway School of Arts. In June
that same year, Calloway suffered a severe stroke and died five months later in
Hartsdale, N. Y.
This
article is in appreciation of all those who enjoy reading about the
contributions of African Americans to the evolution of Jazz, sometimes referred
to as “African American Classical Music” as we welcome you again to this column
dedicated to Jazz appreciation.
