1939-40/Crusin' With Cab Calloway

Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 20, 1995)
• Label: Forlane
• ASIN: B0000038FC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,345,859 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Jazz Potpourri

2. Something To Live For

3. Old King Dooji

4. Pussy Willow

5. You Can Count On Me

6. Way Low

7. Grievin'

8. Little Posey

9. The Gal From Joes

10. Day In, Day Out

11. Merry Go Round

12. Limehouse Blues

13. Hard Times

14. 15 Minute Intermission

15. I'll Pray For You

16. Boog It

17. Cruisin' With Cab

18. Frantic On The Atlantic

19. Russian Lullaby

20. St. Louis Blues

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent showcase for Calloway and his sidemen., March 16, 1999

By 

Bedrock Fred (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cruisin With Cab (Audio CD)

Casual Cab Calloway fans might be somewhat put off by this collection of radio broadcasts from the 1940s, but there's a lot to like here for the serious Calloway devotee. Tracks 1-6 are from a 1940 radio broadcast, while tracks 7-12 were recorded in 1945, with very good sound quality from both dates. At first I was disappointed that only five of the twelve tunes feature Calloway on vocals. However, the more I listen to it, the more I appreciate the talents of Calloway's sidemen (including Dizzy Gillespie, Chu Berry, J.C. Heard and Cozy Cole). Among the vocal tracks, highlights include "Hard Times," "15 Minute Intermission" (featuring a call-and-response vocal with the band) and "Boog It." Instrumental highlights include "Limehouse Blues," "Cruisin' with Cab" and "Russian Lullaby." The band swings in high gear throughout this disc, proving that Calloway was not only a great singer and bandleader, but also a fine judge of talent.

3.0 out of 5 stars Cab fair, March 7, 2005

By 

Greg Brady "columbusboy" (Capital City) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cruisin With Cab (Audio CD)

I'm one of those "wet behind the ears" types who caught on to Cab Calloway after the 90s swing revival craze (Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin' Daddies and other scenesters kept pointing to him as an influence). I already owned "Are You Hep to the Jive? (ASIN:B0000029FN) and wanted to check out some of his other material, so I snagged this at my local library.

The recordings here come from two separate live dates in 1940 (a radio broadcast from Meadowbrook, Cedar Grove,NJ,7/27/40) and 1945 (another radio broadcast, this time from Club Zanzibar,Los Angeles, CA, 7/30/45). The sound quality is good for the vintage, though the 1940 tracks sound cleaner. Another interesting note here is very early performances by Dizzy Gillespie (he takes a solo on "Hard Times").

The bad news,if you're mostly a fan of Calloway's hepcat slang and loose vocals, is that there are only 4 vocal numbers on here and one of them is the saccharine ballad "I'll Pray for You" (slow numbers aren't really Cab's bag..) But the band is smoking hot on many of the instrumentals, making it a worthwhile investment.

Highlights here are the rollicking "Limehouse Blues" with some fantastic stickwork from Cozy Cole, "15 Minute Intermission"...a snappy call and response with the band begging leader Calloway for a quick R&R, and I loved Cab's take on "St. Louis Blues".

The low spots are few. "I'll Pray for You" I've already mentioned. I felt the moody instrumental "Cupid's Nightmare" was overlong and not that interesting. "Boog It" was chockablock with scatting, and that's something personally I only enjoy in moderate doses (though I'm sure some will be ecstatic).

This one is definitely not for the Cab novice..I'd say "Are you Hep to the Jive?" is that disc. But once you've bought that one and loved it, you'll find some more of that Calloway magic here.