The Cab Calloway Orchestra at the University of Dubuque -- February 9.
Friday, February 9, 7:30 p.m.
University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, 2255 Bennett Street, Dubuque IA
On February 9, music lovers are invited to enjoy the unforgettable sensation of a modern jazz ensemble in full flight when the legendary Cab Calloway Orchestra makes an eagerly awaited visit to the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, the whole room sure to bounce and sway while singing along to the Calloway classic “Hi-De-Ho!”
Directed by Cab's grandson Christopher Calloway Brooks, an artist frequently referred to as "The Prince of Hi De Ho," the Cab Calloway Orchestra comes from the big-band and swing-jazz traditions that came bursting out of the Cotton Club and Savoy Ballroom in the Harlem Renaissance, during the golden age of radio in the 1930s and '40s. Growing directly out of the Louis Armstrong New Orleans Dixieland tradition, Cab Calloway and his Orchestra virtually wrote the book on the "Hot Swing" sound and the "Jump" genre, and featured a progressive approach to performance. The Calloway magic touched many of our country's greatest Jazz musicians, among them Dizzy Gillespie, Milton Hinton, the Nicholas Brothers, Illinois Jaquet, Jonah Jones, Cozy Cole, Doc Cheatham, and Ben Webster, all of whom emerged from Cab Calloway stints and went on to redefine Jazz music with spectacular musical careers of their own. Like Calloway himself, they took African-American based musical expression to whole new levels.
Calloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming the first African-American musician to sell one million copies of a single record. He became known as the "Hi-de-ho" man of jazz for his most famous song "Minnie the Moocher," which was originally recorded in 1931. He reached the Billboard charts in five consecutive decades, and also made several stage, film, and television appearances until his death in 1994 at the age of 86. He had roles in 1943's Stormy Weather, 1953's Porgy & Bess, 1965's The Cincinnati Kid, and 1967's Hello, Dolly!, with his career enjoying a marked resurgence from his appearance in the 1980 comedy The Blues Brothers.
Calloway was the first African-American to have a nationally syndicated radio program, and in 1993, the legend received the National Medal of Arts from the United States Congress. He posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, with "Minnie the Moocher" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2019. Three years later, the National Film Registry selected Calloway's home films for preservation as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films," and the musician was also inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame and the International Jazz Hall of Fame.
The Cab Calloway Orchestra performs in the John & Alice Butler Hall of the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on February 9, admission to the 7:30 p.m. concert event is $30-45, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)585-7469 and visiting Dbq.edu/heritagecenter.
