The Cab Calloway Orchestra Directed by "CB" -- C. Calloway Brooks

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The whole audience bouncing and swaying to the irresistible rhythm. Everybody singing HI-DE-HO! They’re echoing the King himself, Cab Calloway, as he thrusts his baton into the air, and in his Zoot Suit, jumps, twirls and signals to the band to begin another joyous chorus. Who could forget the incredible sounds and imagery of Cab Calloway and his hot Jazz Orchestra!

The Cab Calloway Orchestra continues to delight audiences nationally from the historic jazz club “Birdland” in New York City to jazz and other venues all over the country under the baton of Cab’s grandson C. Calloway Brooks. The Calloway family has been dazzling audiences since the 1920’s and this year is no exception. Calloway Brooks, along with the Cab Calloway Orchestra deliver both the authentic sound of a hot Jazz Orchestra and a snazzy stage style-bringing out a Jump, Blues, and Boogie experience of “Swing that is king and Jive that’s alive”. Using the Calloway bands original vintage orchestrations as a starting point, coupled with the awesome musicians who have played with this big band for decades, The Cab Calloway Orchestra creates the authentic unforgettable sensation of a Modern Jazz Orchestra in full flight.

The year 2002 will mark the beginning of “Cab 95”, an unprecedented yearlong celebration of the life and music of Cab Calloway, to honor the 95^th anniversary of his birth. It will include the release of a new CD of premier Calloway Big Band Orchestrations led by C. Calloway Brooks; Lectures, Workshops and Classes that will explore the Calloway repertoire; and special performances throughout the year by the CCO which will culminate in the hepest birthday party of on December 25^th.

Cabell (Cab) Calloway became famous leading his hot jazz orchestras at the Cotton Club in the late 1920’s. Among the great famous musicians who came from the Calloway Orchestra over the years were famous trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Jonah Jones, Doc Cheatham, and Shad Collins trombonists Tyree Glenn, and Quentin Jackson, saxophonists Chu Berry, Illinois Jacquet, Benny Carter, Ike Quebec, Ben Webster, Hilton Jefferson and Eddie Barefield, bassist Milt Hinton, drummer Cozy Cole and Panama Francis. Cab’s career went on to include major films and musicals such as Stormy Weather, Porgy and Bess, The Cincinnati Kid, Hello Dolly!, The Blues Brothers and even a video with Janet Jackson in Design of a Decade. Cab Passed in 1994. in 1995 Cab was inducted posthumously into the International Jazz Hall of Fame. 

The Calloway Orchestra legacy is being carried forward by Cab’s grandson. C. Calloway Brooks, known in New York’s Jazz Circles as “C.B.”.