Cab Calloway & His Orchestra - So Sweet

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an African-American jazz singer and bandleader. From 1930 until his death in 1994 at the age of 86, he continued performing. Decades before, he had left law school to sing with a band called the Alabamians. He met and performed with Louis Armstrong who taught him to sing in the "scat" style. The Cotton Club was the premier jazz venue in the country. Calloway had taken over a brilliant, but failing band called The Missourians in 1930; later on, the band changed its name to Cab Calloway and His Orchestra. They were hired as a replacement for the Duke Ellington Orchestra while they were touring (he joined Duke Ellington and Mills Blue Rhythm Band as another of the jazz groups handled by Irving Mi lls). Calloway quickly proved so popular that his band became the "co-house" band with Ellington's. As a result of the success of Minnie the Moocher in 1931 he became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man". He also performed in a series of short films for Paramount in the 1930s. As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher," he became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man". He also performed in a series of short films for Paramount in the 1930s. In his later career, in the 50s and 60s Calloway appeared in a number of films and stage productions that used both his acting and singing talents. 1976 saw the release of his autobiography, Of Minnie the Moocher and Me (Crowell). Calloway attracted renewed interest in 1980 when he appeared as a supporting character in the film The Blues Brothers, performing "Minnie the Moocher", and again when he sang "The Jumpin' Jive" with the Two-Headed Monster on Sesame Street. This also was the year the cult movie Forbidden Zone was released. Calloway helped establish the Cab Calloway Museum at Coppin State College (Baltimore, Maryland) in the 1980s, and Bill Cosby helped establish a scholarship in Calloway's name at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan. In 1990, he was the focus of Janet Jackson's 1930s-themed music video "Alright", and he made a cameo appearance at the end playing himself. In 1994, a creative and performing arts school, the Cab Calloway School of the Arts, was dedicated in his name in Wilmington, Delaware. As for this lovely record, it was made in 1931. Calloway himself is performing the vocal.