“Minnie the Moocher” starring Betty Boop and Cab Calloway, bounces along just like the hot jazz number on the soundtrack. Still popular today on social media, with colorized and high-definition restorations, the 8 minutes of film is a funny musical dream sequence with various animated creatures singing along to the title tune, supplying plenty of hi-de-ho’s in response to Cab’s singing. Read the full story →

Now forgotten and eclipsed by Milt Hinton, his brilliant successor in Calloway’s orchestra, Albert ‘Al’ MORGAN (August 19, 1908, New Orleans – April 14, 1974, Los Angeles), however, benefits from the image of an exceptional double bass player, considered one of the pioneers of slapping, in the same ranks as Wellman Braud or Pops Foster. During his career, Al Morgan walked his bass from the Riverboats on the Mississippi to New York, Europe, Boston, and Hollywood. PART 2: After Cab Calloway, in California Read the full story →

Before merchandized television sets were sold to the American customer, a couple of movies using the primitive and experimental television as a futuristic subject of fantasy welcomed Cab Calloway in a couple of scenes. And that started as early as 1933! In this first episode in our series "Cab Calloway on Television" by decades, we'll see that even when the television invention is at its dawn, Cab Calloway already has many assets to become one of the new big stars of the small screen... Read the full story →