Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases two examples of Cab Calloway performing his 1931 song "Minnie The Moocher". Information about Cab Calloway, as well as lyrics and information about this song are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Cab Calloway for his musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT CAB CALLOWAY
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cab_Calloway
"Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was a jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, where he was a regular performer.
Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular big bands from the start of the 1930s through to the late 1940s...
In 1931 he recorded his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher". That song, along with "St. James Infirmary Blues" and "The Old Man of the Mountain", were performed for the Betty Boop animated shorts Minnie the Moocher, Snow White, and The Old Man of the Mountain, respectively. Through rotoscoping, Calloway not only gave his voice to these cartoons, but his dance steps as well. He took advantage of this and timed his concerts in some communities with the release of the films in order to make the most of the attention. As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher," he became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man"."
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/02/cab-calloway-hi-de-ho-man-examples.html for a pancocojams post on "The Hi De Ho Man"."
****
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "MINNIE THE MOOCHER"
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_the_Moocher
"Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over 1 million copies.[1] "Minnie the Moocher" is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed ("scat") lyrics (for example, "Hi De Hi De Hi De Hi"). In performances, Calloway would have the audience participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of call and response. Eventually Calloway's phrases would become so long and complex that the audience would laugh at their own failed attempts to repeat them.
"Minnie the Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
The song is based both musically and lyrically on Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon's 1927 "Willie the Weeper"[2][3] (Bette Davis sings this version in The Cabin in the Cotton). The lyrics are heavily laden with drug references. The character "Smokey" is described as "cokey", meaning a user of cocaine; the phrase "kicking the gong around" was a slang reference to smoking opium.[4]"
****
LYRICS: MINNIE THE MOOCHER
(Songwriter(s): Cab Calloway, Irving Mills, Clarence Gaskill, Joseph C. Liggins)
Folks, here´s a story about Minnie the Moocher
She was a red hot hoochie-koocher
She was the roughest, toughest frail
but Minnie had a heart as big as a wha-a-le
Hidee-Hidee-Hidee-hi
Hodee-hodee-hodee-ho
Heedey-hee-dee-hee-dee hee
Hidee-hidee-hidee-ho
She messed around with a bloke named Smoky
She loved him though he was cokey
He took her down to Chinatown
He showed her how to kick the gong around
Hidee-Hidee-Hidee-hi
Wooooooh
Heedey-hee-dee-hee-dee hee
Hidee-hidee-hidee-ho
She had a dream that the King of Sweden
He gave her things that she was needin´
He built her a house of gold and steel
A diamond car with platinum wheels
hidee-hidee-hidee-hidee-hidee-hidee-hi
hodee-hodee-hodee-hodee-hodee-hodee-ho
scoodley-woo-scoodley-woo-scoodley-woodley-woodley-
woo
zit-dit-dit-dit-dittle-but-dut-duttleoo-skit-dit-
skittle-but-dit-zoy
he gave her his townhouse and his racing horses
Each meal she ate was a dozen courses
She had a million dollars worth of nickels and dimes
she sat around and counted them all a million times
Hidee-Hidee-Hidee-hi
Hodee-hodee-hodee-ho
Heedey-hee-dee-hee-dee hee
Hidee-hidee-hidee-ho
Now Min and Smokie, they started jaggin'
They got a free ride in a wagon
She gave him money to pay her bail
But he left her flat in the county jail
Whoooa, yeaaaah
Hey de he de he he
Whoa Whoa
Poor Min met old Deacon Lowdown
He preached to her that she ought to slow down
But Minnie wiggled her jelly roll
And Deacon Lowdown yelled, "Lord save my soul!"
Hi de hi de hi de hi
Ho de ho de ho de ho
Skiddley doodley doodly do
Skiddly diddly day
They took her where they put the crazies
Now poor Min's kicking up those daisies
You've heard my story this is her song
She was just a good gal, but they done her wrong
Hi de hi de hi de hi
Skooby de be do
He de he de he de he
Whoa, Whoa Whoa
Poor Min, Poor Min, Poor Min.
-snip-
Source: http://www.elyrics.net/read/c/calloway-lyrics/minnie-the-moocher-lyrics.html
The word "frail" is "jive talk' for female, from the English word meaning "fragile".
Click http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/09/25/are-you-hep-to-the-jive-the-cab-calloway-hepster-dictionary/ for a listing of words and phrases from Cab Calloway's hepster dictionary.
****
FEATURED EXAMPLES
Example #1: Cab Calloway - Minnie the Moocher
moontreal, Uploaded on Mar 18, 2008
****
Example #2: Blues Brothers - Minnie the Moocher (Cab Calloway)
SantoriniAJC·Uploaded on Jan 22, 2012
'Minnie the Moocher' from the [1980] film Blues Brothers. I do NOT own the video.
****
RELATED LINK
Cab Calloway songs include lots of "jive talk". Read this pancocojams post about jive talk: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/various-meanings-of-word-jive-cab.html
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome
Showing posts with label Scat singing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scat singing. Show all posts
Friday, February 14, 2014
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Scat Singing: Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, & Ella Fitzgerald
Edited by Azizi Powell
Heebie Jeebies / Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
Uploaded by MINICQQPER on May 11, 2010
****
This post features information and video examples of scat singing as performed by.
My thanks to these iconic performers for this rich legacy. My thanks also to these videos' uploaders for making these film clips accessible.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT SCATTING
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scat_singing
"In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice...
Jelly Roll Morton credited Joe Sims of Vicksburg, Mississippi as the creator of scat around the turn of the 20th century...
It was Armstrong's 1926 performance, however, that was the turning point for the medium.[15] According to Armstrong, when he was recording the song "Heebie Jeebies", soon to be a national bestseller, with his band The Hot Five, his music fell to the ground. Not knowing the lyrics to the song, he invented a gibberish melody to fill time, expecting the cut to be thrown out in the end, but that take of the song was the one released.[11] The story is widely believed to be apocryphal,[16] but the influence of the recording was nonetheless enormous.
Jelly Roll Morton credited Joe Sims of Vicksburg, Mississippi as the creator of scat around the turn of the 20th century. Louis Armstrong served as a model for Cab Calloway, whose 1930s scat solos inspired Gershwin's use of the medium in his Porgy and Bess; it was from the 1926 recording of "Heebie Jeebies" arose the techniques that would form the foundation of modern scat."
****
Video #1: Heebie Jeebies / Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
This video is posted at the top of this page. Here is information about the band members as posted by that video's uploader:
Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five
Louis Armstrong (c,vo)
Kid Ory (tb)
Johnny Dodds (cl)
Lil Armstrong (p)
Johnny St. Cyr (bj)
February 26, 1926, Chicago, Illinois
****
1932 version: Cab Calloway - The Scat Song (Cab Calloway, vocal)
MusicProf78, Published on Dec 22, 2016
Original 78rpm courtesy of the Rick Colom Collection. The songs on both this and the also-posted flip side “There’s A Cabin In The Cotton” (listen here: https://youtu.be/4Gw10vy9Qyg) would be re-recorded by Calloway in November 1933 and released on the Victor label.
Transferred from 78rpm: Brunswick 6272 - The Skat Song (Parish-Perkins) by Cab Calloway & his Orchestra, vocal by Cab Calloway, recorded in Chicago February 29,, 1932
-snip-
Here's information from a summary for another sound file of this song that was embedded in this post but is no longer available:
"Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (Dec.25,1907 - Nov.18,1994) was a famous 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 1930s through the late 1940s.
Calloway's Orchestra featured performers that included 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."
****
Video #3: Cab Calloway - Minnie the Moocher [1958]
Uploaded by moontreal on Mar 18, 2008
Minnie the Moocher
****
Video #4: Ella Fitzgerald : One note Samba (scat singing) 1969
Uploaded by diegodobini2 on Jan 26, 2007
June 22, 1969 jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald with accompaniment by Ed Thigpen on drums, Frank de la Rosa on bass, and Tommy Flanagan on piano.
****
Video #5: Jazz - Conversation in Scat - Ella Fitzgerald (1974)
Uploaded by internet100 on May 10, 2010
7 minutes of scat singin'
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Heebie Jeebies / Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
Uploaded by MINICQQPER on May 11, 2010
****
This post features information and video examples of scat singing as performed by.
My thanks to these iconic performers for this rich legacy. My thanks also to these videos' uploaders for making these film clips accessible.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT SCATTING
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scat_singing
"In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice...
Jelly Roll Morton credited Joe Sims of Vicksburg, Mississippi as the creator of scat around the turn of the 20th century...
It was Armstrong's 1926 performance, however, that was the turning point for the medium.[15] According to Armstrong, when he was recording the song "Heebie Jeebies", soon to be a national bestseller, with his band The Hot Five, his music fell to the ground. Not knowing the lyrics to the song, he invented a gibberish melody to fill time, expecting the cut to be thrown out in the end, but that take of the song was the one released.[11] The story is widely believed to be apocryphal,[16] but the influence of the recording was nonetheless enormous.
Jelly Roll Morton credited Joe Sims of Vicksburg, Mississippi as the creator of scat around the turn of the 20th century. Louis Armstrong served as a model for Cab Calloway, whose 1930s scat solos inspired Gershwin's use of the medium in his Porgy and Bess; it was from the 1926 recording of "Heebie Jeebies" arose the techniques that would form the foundation of modern scat."
****
Video #1: Heebie Jeebies / Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
This video is posted at the top of this page. Here is information about the band members as posted by that video's uploader:
Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five
Louis Armstrong (c,vo)
Kid Ory (tb)
Johnny Dodds (cl)
Lil Armstrong (p)
Johnny St. Cyr (bj)
February 26, 1926, Chicago, Illinois
****
1932 version: Cab Calloway - The Scat Song (Cab Calloway, vocal)
MusicProf78, Published on Dec 22, 2016
Original 78rpm courtesy of the Rick Colom Collection. The songs on both this and the also-posted flip side “There’s A Cabin In The Cotton” (listen here: https://youtu.be/4Gw10vy9Qyg) would be re-recorded by Calloway in November 1933 and released on the Victor label.
Transferred from 78rpm: Brunswick 6272 - The Skat Song (Parish-Perkins) by Cab Calloway & his Orchestra, vocal by Cab Calloway, recorded in Chicago February 29,, 1932
-snip-
Here's information from a summary for another sound file of this song that was embedded in this post but is no longer available:
"Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (Dec.25,1907 - Nov.18,1994) was a famous 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 1930s through the late 1940s.
Calloway's Orchestra featured performers that included 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."
****
Video #3: Cab Calloway - Minnie the Moocher [1958]
Uploaded by moontreal on Mar 18, 2008
Minnie the Moocher
****
Video #4: Ella Fitzgerald : One note Samba (scat singing) 1969
Uploaded by diegodobini2 on Jan 26, 2007
June 22, 1969 jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald with accompaniment by Ed Thigpen on drums, Frank de la Rosa on bass, and Tommy Flanagan on piano.
****
Video #5: Jazz - Conversation in Scat - Ella Fitzgerald (1974)
Uploaded by internet100 on May 10, 2010
7 minutes of scat singin'
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)