THE CAB CALLOWAY ORCHESTRA ™
Jump
to Table of Content 
Jump
to Tour Calendar
C. Calloway Brooks - Director
|
THE CAB CALLOWAY ORCHESTRA ™ Jump
to Table of Content C. Calloway Brooks - Director The world famous Cab Calloway Orchestra welcomes you to its official internet home.The place to get a more HI DE HO! in your life! |
|
Steppin’ out! BY TRISTRAM LOZAW Led by Cab’s grandson C. Calloway Brooks, the Orchestra aims to carry on the traditional swinging sounds associated with Cab Calloway Brooks has adopted the gruff voice and swank Cotton Club suit of his big-band-leading grandfather, whom he remembers he started watching and listening to when he was just five. "I loved to watch him rehearse. You can find what an artist intends to create at a rehearsal." Brooks met Duke Ellington when he was three, Louis Armstrong at nine. Dizzy Gillespie called every year to wish them a Merry Christmas. "I was surrounded by titanic musicians. Only when you look back can you see how special it was." After graduating in 1980 from the New England Conservatory, Brooks performed with the Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington Orchestras, Rufus Reid, and Cyrus Chestnut, among others, and released a CD of solo guitar. Content that he had established his own musical voice, he picked up Cab’s baton. "Granddad told me about these great charts he did that had never been recorded. A few years after he passed away in 1994, I decided it was time to perpetuate his legacy." Under Brooks, the 13-piece CCO focuses on the golden era of the orchestra, the 1930s through 1950s, when Cab led bands that featured Dizzy Gillespie, saxman Ben Webster, and drummer Cozy Cole. Brooks has made the first recordings of some of Cab’s classic charts as well as a few surprise finds. "Generally, the music that was unrecorded is more sophisticated material." Still, he insists that there’s much more to be mined from even Calloway’s best-known material. La Timba Loca, an 11-piece powerhouse who’ll play in Steppin’ Out’s "Western Front" room, also strive to shine new light on traditions that leader Gonzalo Grau first learned from his grandfather. "I learned the old salsa songs at home in Caracas with him, and that showed me the true essence of the style." A 1995 graduate of Berklee, Grau scored parts for the salsa numbers in Osvaldo Golijov’s La Pasión segundo San Marcos, and he plays piano and percussion in the touring company. Despite the success of such traditional salsa musicians as Buena Vista Social Club in the last decade, Grau felt the genre was getting lost and needed a modern twist. He discovered that twist in timba, a hard-edge mix of salsa syncopations with street-filtered funk, jazz, hip-hop, and rock. "Timba is the new salsa," he explains. "It’s a younger, more freestyle approach to salsa and dancing from Cuba, where it’s played by people like Isaac Delgado, Los Van Van, NG La Bamba, and Bamboleo. With older salsa, the performance was largely confined to the stage, the players separated from the audience. Timba breaks down that barrier. We can stretch out the story line of a song to really involve the audience and go crazy with it." Steppin’ Out takes place this Friday through Sunday, November 8 through 10, at the World Trade Center, 164 Northern Avenue. Call (617) 442-8800. Issue Date: November 7 - 14, 2002
|
• This Official site is authorized by members the Cab Calloway family, beneficiaries of his Estate, and by the Cab Calloway Orchestra. Copyright © 2000 The Cab Calloway Orchestra Send mail to CCO Feedback Page with questions
or comments. |
