History Music / CabCalloway

*** The Oogie Boogie Man from ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was inspired by Cab Calloway -- complete with his villain song having near-direct recreations of parts of the Cab Calloway/Fleischer toon ''The Old Man of the Mountain''.
*** {{Music/Voltaire}} is a big Cab Calloway fan, and many of the songs from his album ''Ooky Spooky'' are an homage to Cab's style.
*** Music/DannyElfman, of all people, performed a Calloway-inspired number in the ultra-weird ''Film/ForbiddenZone''
*** And ''Series/JeevesAndWooster'' memorably included a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ_R8QBeYvs cover]] of "Minnie the Moocher." "Hoo-de hoo-de hoo, sir..."

** Except for [[{{Airplane}} Barbara Billingsly, of course.]]

*** DannyElfman, of all people, performed a Calloway-inspired number in the ultra-weird ''Film/ForbiddenZone''

* TheCoverChangesTheGender: Cab Calloway did a cover of "Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Told Me)" in which he sings about how his mother told him that women are 'two-faced' and will leave him to sing the blues. The odd thing about this version is his mother bashing her own gender, when in the original the mother warns the singer of the dangers of men.

->''"During the '40s they used to say that I had 40 suits and 40 pairs of shoes. It ain't true. [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne I had 50 suits and 50 pairs of shoes and 50 pairs of pearl-gray gloves too!]]"''

-> ''"During the '40s they used to say that I had 40 suits and 40 pairs of shoes. It ain't true. [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne I had 50 suits and 50 pairs of shoes and 50 pairs of pearl-gray gloves too!]]"''

--> ''"During the '40s they used to say that I had 40 suits and 40 pairs of shoes. It ain't true. [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne I had 50 suits and 50 pairs of shoes and 50 pairs of pearl-gray gloves too!]]"''
--->--'''Cab Calloway'''

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cab_8899.png
[[caption-width:268: The Hi-De-Ho Man himself.]]

His impact on today's popular music reaches deep. In his own words; "You see this rapping they're doing today, I did that 25, 35, 45, 55 years ago!" Indeed, even the rotoscoped animations of his dance moves done for BettyBoop cartoons in the 1930's show him doing the moonwalk some 50 years before MichaelJackson would make it popular.

* {{Rotoscoping}}: His dance moves were used in a few of Max Fleischer's BettyBoop cartoons...including on a [[DerangedAnimation dancing walrus]] in ''MinnieTheMoocher''.

*** The Oogie Boogie Man from ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was inspired by Cab Calloway.

* PimpDuds: By today's standards, though zoot suits and such were the 'in' style at the time.
** Oh, no: he was pimpin' even for his time.

*** The Oogie Boogie Man from ''TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was inspired by Cab Calloway.

Born Cabell Calloway III in 1907 in Rochester, New York, Cab was an American {{Jazz}} singer and bandleader. His band, originally called The Missourians, was one of the most popular African-American big bands of the [[TheThirties 1930s]] and [[TheForties 1940s]]. Calloway's band featured trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86.

* SignatureSong: "Minnie the Moocher"

In a word, he was cool before the 'old school' was even built yet.

Born Cabell Calloway III (1907-1994), Cab was an American {{Jazz}} singer and bandleader.

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the [[TheThirties 1930s]] through the late [[TheForties 1940s]]. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86.

** The Oogie Boogie Man from ''TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was inspired by Cab Calloway.
** {{Music/Voltaire}} is a big Cab Calloway fan, and many of the songs from his album ''Ooky Spooky'' are an homage to Cab's style.
** DannyElfman, of all people, performed a Calloway-inspired number in the ultra-weird ''Film/ForbiddenZone''

* OpiumDen: Many of his songs take place here. Smokey Joe often takes Minnie the Moocher to an opium den in Chinatown to kick the gong around.

** DannyElfman, of all people, performed a Calloway-inspired number in the ultra-weird ForbiddenZone.not

* ButNotTooBlack: It's a sad reality that his lighter skin made it easier for him to succeed in the business than for other jazz singers. Cab Calloway may have been one of the first people this trope was applied to.

* StillGotIt: He continued to perform right up until the last years of his life. His appearance in ''TheBluesBrothers'' proved he 'still had it'.
* TakingTheBullet: The song "San Francisco Fan" is about a female performer who takes 'a dozen slugs' for her no-good gambling boyfriend after he's caught cheating at a game and someone tries to shoot him for it.

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86.

Born Cabell Calloway III, Cab was an American {{Jazz}} singer and bandleader.