Object Details
- Exhibition Label
- Performing one night at Harlem's fabled Cotton Club in the early 1930s, singer, composer, and bandleader Cab Calloway was suddenly unable to remember the lyrics to his own song "Minnie the Moocher." To fill the void, he launched into improvisational scat, singing "hi-de-hi, hi-de-ho." His performance soon had the audience joining in, and his raucous finale, Calloway later recalled, "nearly brought the roof down." Forever after, "hi-de-ho" was an integral part of his identity as one of the Big Band era's most popular and respected figures.
- Much of Calloway's success was owing to his own rakishly vibrant style, which injected his band's performances with a festive exuberance. He also had a remarkable gift for recruiting and holding on to good musicians, and among his band members were such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Hinton, and Cozy Cole.
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Artist
- Carl Van Vechten, 17 Jun 1880 - 21 Dec 1964
- Sitter
- Cab Calloway, 25 Dec 1907 - 18 Nov 1994
- Date
- January 12, 1933
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image/Sheet: 25 × 18.1 cm (9 13/16 × 7 1/8")
- Mat: 56.1 × 40.8 cm (22 1/16 × 16 1/16")
- Type
- Photograph
