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HI-DE-HO The Life of Cab Calloway By Alyn Shipton Oxford Univ. 283 pp. $29.95
Born to be the band leader A
lyn Shipton takes the title of this biography from the refrain that Cab Calloway chanted — and
urged his audiences to chant — while singing “Minnie the Moocher,” the most famous and popular of all the innumerable songs he performed in an incredibly long career that began in 1927, when he was 19 years old, and continued until his death in 1994, a month shy of his 87th birthday. The song was, and remains, immensely amusing as well as catchy, but the irony is that it celebrates a culture — what Shipton calls “the seamy world of narcotics” — in which Calloway
himself declined to participate. By March 1931, when he made the first of his
many recordings of “Minnie,” Cab (short for Cabell) Calloway had left his home in Baltimore and set himself up as a singer, dancer and bandleader in Harlem, where he greatly enjoyed the high life. He was a prodigious consumer of alcohol but abstained from marijuana and stronger drugs; indeed, he forbade members of his band to use marijuana, though with only limited success. Yet he built his show-business persona around “a Harlem demimonde of Minnie and the drug culture.” Shipton writes: “Cab was to record the song many more times in his career, but this original version became the first million-selling disc by an African American artist, and Cab was eventually presented with a gold disc in the fall of 1944. The song had achieved overall sales of close to two and a half million for Cab by 1978, a truly remarkable achievement. It became the template not only for further remakes but also for several other numbers that Cab gradually added to his repertoire as the 1930s went on. Some of these were about Minnie and Smokey Joe, the fictional character who introduced her to opium addiction or ‘kicking the gong around,’ whereas others picked up on the ‘hi-de-ho’ catchphrase that the original song introduced. All of these pieces were designed to involve the audience in Cab’s musical storytelling, by joining in the ‘hi-de-ho’ responses, and thereby becoming part of the song.” With exceptional skill, in this and many other numbers, Calloway managed to play both sides of the street: Using the jive talk popular among African Americans, especially those in the big cities, he was able to communicate on a hip, insider level while delighting non-initiates (most
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Cab Calloway in 1943
of whom probably were white) with the joyfulness and apparent nonsense of his lyrics and giving them the pleasure of participating in call-and-response scat choruses. As a result, he was a wildly popular performer whose appeal crossed racial lines to an extent rare among black artists of his day. He led a big band for almost two decades and
eventually became known as one of the leading jazz musicians of the ’30s and ’40s, yet he wasn’t really one. He couldn’t play any instrument with more than amateur skill, and though over the years he attracted a number of first-rate musicians to his band — among them Cozy Cole, Jonah Jones, Chu Berry and Dizzy Gillespie— many regarded him with a bit of skepticism: “It was to be an irony that Cab’s desire to improve the band by bringing in a higher quality of musician triggered doubts among his men about his own abilities. To the newcomers his inventive capacities as a dancer, his innovations as a vocalist, his remarkable timing, and his ability to connect with the public were unimportant. Could he sight-read a score? Could he hear tiny harmonic mistakes in the sections or tell if one member of the reeds or brass was fractionally out of tune? Could he beat in a number at precisely the right tempo? These were the measures by which instrumentalists accustomed to playing for so many hours each day sized up the musical abilities of their conductors. By the end of the [’30s] when players like Dizzy Gillespie arrived in the ranks, they were much freer with their opinions, Dizzy holding forth with the view that ‘Cab was no musician.’ ” That judgment should be taken with a grain of salt, for Gillespie “did not so readily fit into the framework that Cab had established for himself and his men, whether socially or musically.” His bebop style had yet to evolve, but he was fully
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developed as an eccentric who did not take kindly to Calloway and most members of the band. The truth is that, by Gillespie’s arrival in 1939, Calloway presided over a true jazz band that could hold its own in the competitions staged between the leading ensembles of the prewar years. He also presided over what was, at least by jazz-band standards, a reasonably happy crew. He paid well — only Duke Ellington paid better — traveled in comfort, stayed in good hotels and gave everyone a vacation at Christmas, which just happened to be his birthday. The other band members “admired his craft, his skills as a performer, and his charisma,” and “in return, they would do anything for him.” As one of them said: “He was a great performer and he knew what he wanted. His showmanship was carefully arranged. He learned his arrangements and the band played them to perfection. And he was a helluva singer. Cab Calloway had good lungs.” He was a tough cookie whose school had been the streets of Baltimore, but he was also smart and charming. He was married twice and fathered 41
⁄2 daughters, one of them out of
wedlock, and he had “a reputation as a ladies’ man, especially as there were so many lithe, attractive, and available dancers in Harlem’s nightlife.” He was incredibly energetic, fully capable of playing a full night’s set, carousing until the small hours, sleeping off a monster hangover, then doing it all over again. When the big-band era crashed to a close in
the late 1940s, he went through a period of depression, but he rode it out and reinvented himself. Though he stayed on the road for most of the remaining four-and-a-half decades of his life and from time to time led big bands for short engagements, he metamorphosed into a one-man act that proved as popular as his first incarnation. Not merely did he continue to perform “Minnie” and all the other songs that had made him famous, he ventured into stage and film. In 1952 he was persuaded, against his initial skepticism, to take on the role of Sportin’ Life in a production of “Porgy and Bess” that played all over Europe and the United States and did much to establish its reputation as serious opera. In 1967, he played Horace Vandergelder in “Hello, Dolly!” with an all-black cast (Dolly was played by Pearl Bailey) that in the opinion of many was better than any before or since. He also did a hugely successful cameo in 1979 in the film “The Blues Brothers” in which, as Shipton notes, a whole new generation discovered him. Shipton, a British jazz journalist whose other books include biographies of Fats Waller and Dizzy Gillespie, does a workmanlike if uninspired job with Calloway, whose zest and brio shine through only intermittently. That’s largely because the private Calloway is hard to pin down, as so often is the case with artists whose huge public images disguise elusive inner lives. Say it for Shipton, though, that he makes a solid case for Calloway as a jazz musician as well as an entertainer. He certainly makes you want to listen to “Minnie,” and all the others, for the umpteenth time in my case and, it is to be hoped, for the first time in others’.
yardleyj@washpost.com
LITERARY CALENDAR OCTOBER 25-31, 2010
25 MONDAY 6:30 P.M. The Women’s National Book Association, D.C. chapter, is
hosting a panel discussion to mark National Reading Group Month with Shireen Dodson, author of “The
Mother-Daughter Book Club: How Ten Busy Mothers and Daughters Came Together to Talk, Laugh, and Learn
Through Their Love of Reading”; Joyce Hinnefeld, author of the new novel
“Stranger Here Below”; and Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of the novel “Wench,” at Busboys and Poets (14th & V), 2021 14th St. NW, 202-387-7638. Visit
www.wnbadc.com for more details. 7 P.M. W.S. Merwin, the current U.S. poet laureate and author of the collections “Present Company,” “Migration” and “The Shadow of Sirius,” reads from his work at the opening of the Library of Congress’s Fall Literary Season in the Thomas Jefferson Bldg., Coolidge Auditorium, 10 First St. SE. A reception and book signing follow; call 202-707-5394 for details. 7 P.M. Myla Goldberg reads from and discusses her new novel, “The False Friend,” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-1919. 7 P.M. Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz discusses and signs her new book, “The Love That Dog Training Program: Using Positive Reinforcement to Train the Perfect Family Dog” (written with Larry Kay), at Borders Books-Fairfax, 11054 Lee Hwy., Fairfax, Va., 703-359-8420. 7:30 P.M. Nicolle Wallace, a former communications director for the White House, reads from and signs “Eighteen Acres,” her new suspense novel, at Borders Books, Route 7 at Columbia Pike, Baileys Crossroads, Va., 703-998-0404. 26 TUESDAY 7:30 P.M. National Geographic photographer Annie Griffiths discusses and signs the new collection “National Geographic Simply Beautiful Photographs” as part of the “National Geographic Live!” series at the National Geographic Society, Grosvenor Auditorium, 1600 M St. NW. Admission is $18 for nonmembers; call 202-857-7700 or visit
www.nglive.org.
27 WEDNESDAY 6:30 P.M. Willie Geist, host of the MSNBC program “Way Too Early With Willie Geist” and a co-host of “Morning Joe,” discusses and signs his new book, “American Freak Show: The Completely Fabricated Stories of Our New National Treasures,” at Borders
Books-Downtown, 18th & L Sts. NW, 202-466-4999.
7 P.M. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis discusses and signs his new book, “First Family: Abigail and John Adams,” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919.
28 THURSDAY Noon. W. Joseph Campbell, a professor in the School of Communication at American University, discusses and signs his new book, “Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism,” as part of the “Books & Beyond” series at the Library of Congress, James Madison Bldg., Mumford Room, 101 Independence Ave. SE, 202-707-5221. 5 P.M. Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, co-founder of the Apartment Therapy blog network, discusses and signs his new book, “Apartment Therapy’s Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces,” at Room & Board, 1840 14th St. NW, 202-729-8300. 6:30 P.M. George Banker discusses and signs “The Marine Corps Marathon: A Running Tradition,” his history of the “People’s Marathon,” at Borders Books-Downtown, 202-466-4999.
29 FRIDAY Noon. Professor of history Douglas R. Egerton discuses and signs his new book, “Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election That Brought on the Civil War,” at the National Portrait Gallery, museum bookstore, Eighth & F Sts. NW, 202-633-5450. He will also speak on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Politics and Prose, 202-364-1919. 30 SATURDAY 1 P.M. Matt Long, founder of the I Will Foundation, discusses and signs his new memoir, “The Long Run: A New York City Firefighter’s Triumphant Comeback From Crash Victim to Elite Athlete” (written with Charles Butler), at Barnes & Noble-Metro Center, 555 12th St. NW, 202-347-4170. 31 SUNDAY 2 P.M. Critic, curator and art historian John T. Spike presents a lecture, “Michelangelo: The Beginning,” drawn from his new book, “Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine,” at the National Gallery of Art, East Building auditorium, Fourth St. & Constitution Ave. NW. A book signing follows. For details, call 202-737-4215 or visit
www.nga.gov.
For more literary events, go to
washingtonpost.com/gog/ and search “book event.”
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2010
WASHINGTON BESTSELLERS PAPERBACK
FICTION 1 THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
2 THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE 3 I, ALEX CROSS (Vision, $9.99) 4 61 HOURS (Dell, $9.99) 69
(Vintage, $14.95). By Stieg Larsson. First book in the late Swede’s “Millennium Trilogy”; basis of new film.
30
(Vintage, $15.95). By Stieg Larsson. Sex trafficking between Sweden and Eastern Europe is exposed.
3
By James Patterson. A relative’s murder leads Cross and his girlfriend on the hunt for a vicious killer.
3
By Lee Child. Ex-military cop Jack Reacher finds himself stranded in a small town with big (drug) problems.
5 PIRATE LATITUDES (Harper, $9.99) 3
By Michael Crichton. A daring pirate captain plots to commandeer a Spanish galleon laden with treasure.
6 LITTLE BEE (Simon & Schuster, $14) 34
By Chris Cleave. This wry second novel from a British journalist explores the state of war and refugees.
7 PLAY DEAD (Signet, $9.99). By Harlan Coben 8 ROUGH COUNTRY (Berkley, $9.99) 3
A NBA star fakes his own death in this reissue of the best-selling suspense writer’s first novel.
3
By John Sandford. This third Virgil Flowers caper involves the murder of an ad exec at a wooded resort.
9 CUTTING FOR STONE (Vintage, $15.95) 10 HALF BROKE HORSES (Scribner, $15) 4
By Abraham Verghese. Medicine, political upheaval and the African continent woven into a sweeping saga.
4
By Jeanette Walls. A novel drawn from the real-life exploits of the author’s Texan grandmother.
NONFICTION/GENERAL 1 EAT PRAY LOVE: ONE WOMAN’S SEARCH FOR
PROMOTE PEACE (Griffin, $19.95) By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
150
EVERYTHING ACROSS ITALY, INDIA AND INDONESIA (Penguin, $15). By Elizabeth Gilbert. Feature film.
2 THREE CUPS OF TEA: ONE MAN’S MISSION TO 3 COOK THIS, NOT THAT! EASY & AWESOME 350 4 SECRETARIAT (Hyperion, $16.99)
CALORIE MEALS (Rodale, $19.99). By David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. Fast-food favorites made at home.
3
By William Nack. The reissue of Nack’s classic look at the Triple Crown thoroughbred; basis of the film.
5 BEYOND BEDTIME STORIES: A PARENT’S GUIDE TO 6 EAT THIS, NOT THAT! NEW 2011 EDITION 1
PROMOTING READING, WRITING . . . (Scholastic, $19.99). By V. Susan Bennett-Armistead
1
(Rodale, $19.99). By David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. Updated edition with new features.
7 ENCOURAGING THE HEART: A LEADER’S GUIDE TO
REWARDING AND RECOGNIZING OTHERS (Jossey-Bass, $18.95). By Kouzes & Posner
8 THE OFFICIAL SAT STUDY GUIDE (SECOND EDITION) 9 THE MURDER OF KING TUT: THE PLOT TO KILL THE
CHILD KING (Grand Central, $14.99) By James Patterson and Martin Duggan
10 THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES: THE FOUNDING OF
FACEBOOK (Anchor, $15.95). By Ben Mezrich Inspiration for the feature film “The Social Network.”
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended Oct. 17, 2010. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright © 2010 by Nielsen BookScan. (The right-hand column of numbers represents weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. The bestseller lists in print alternate between hardcover and paperback; the complete list can be found online.)
6
Hardback Bestsellers at
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm
Thursday IN STYLE: Keith Richards 1 46
(College Board, $21.99). This revised manual offers 10 practice tests and loads of tips.
1 1 179 1
EVAN AGOSTINI / ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOOK WORLD THIS WEEK
COMING IN STYLE
MONDAY In A Lily of the Field, John Lawton’s Inspector Troy tackles a mystery that stretches from Vienna to New Mexico, during and after World War II.
TUESDAY The Confession, by John Grisham, contains both superb storytelling and trenchant social criticism of the death penalty.
WEDNESDAY Susan Fletcher’s Corrag is a stirring historical novel of witchcraft and massacre in the Highlands of Scotland. Full Dark, No Stars collects four
novellas of mayhem by Stephen King. And a roundup of novels about zombies.
THURSDAY Life, by Keith Richards, is a memoir by the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist.
FRIDAY Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World’s Greatest Chocolate Makers, by Deborah Cadbury.
SATURDAY Thomas McGuane’s Driving on the Rim is a risk-taking novel of death and redemption.
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm 6
Read our blog, Political Bookworm, which focuses on books that stir the national political conversation.
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