• Blog »
  • Tagged: tour

“A plane! A plane for my musicians!”

Tout le monde sait que l'orchestre de Cab Calloway était parmi les mieux traités du business : la paie était la meilleure, 4 semaines de congés payés par an et 1 semaine à Noël avec une prime, au moins 3 costumes de scène inclus, etc. Dans le "package" Calloway, il y avait également le transport. Quand ce n'était pas dans un bus spécial, l'orchestre avait pour habitude de voyager dans un wagon Pullman bénéficiant d'un grand confort. Les nombreuses photos de Milt Hinton vous ont déjà montré tout ça. Ce que l'on sait moins, c'est que tout l'orchestre profita pendant quelques mois d'un nouveau type de transport, unique dans tout le monde du jazz à l'époque : un avion ! Il n'y a guère que The Hi de Ho Blog pour vous raconter pareille anecdote ! Read the full story →

Peckin’: the road to success (along with a rooster)

Recorded on March 3, 1937, Peckin' is a novelty song intended to create new fashionable dance. In the lyrics, Cab Calloway refers to other dances launched by him at the Cotton Club, like the Suzy-Q and Truckin'. The Hi de Ho Blog tells you what he knows about this ancestor of the Duck Trot and, most famous in France, La danse des canards... Read the full story →

The Cab Calloway TV Show in 1959 from the Rancho Don Carlos in Winnipeg, Canada

This show is one of a kind testimony of the way Cab Calloway sang and toured in the late fifties, when times were harder than during the Swing era. And, on a personal matter, this is a TV show I’ve been privileged to watch at Cab Calloway’s house in Westchester along with Cab’s daughter, Cecelia. I thought I’d never see it again, but here it is, after a dedicated fan posted it on YouTube. Read the full story →

Cotton Club Revue Season #2: 1958, from Miami to...

The second year, expected to fulfill the hopes of the first season, didn’t happen the way it was supposed to. With many changes in the leading parts, certainly lacking pizzazz, with a downgraded show, the 1958 Cotton Club Revue had also had to face bad luck. Even the GONE Album recorded to support the show was released right after the closing of the engagement in Miami… But it takes much more to dishearten Cab Calloway! Read the full story →