Jazz musicians like calloway talked jive, a kind of shorthand that turned ordinary conversation into an extended jazzy riff. To help facilitate this, calloway produced a hepster dictionary in 1940 that accompanied cab calloway sheet. Harlem was in the midst of a black cultural renaissance. Learn a few choice phrases and try peppering your speech with them. Scating now, ive told you bout the jumpin jive the jim, jam, jump, the jumpin jive i know you dug this. Ellington entertainment feeling friends fump girl guess guys harlem hell hideho high school holler horses hustling irving mills jazz jive kids knew lael lena living looked louis armstrong mama mills music mills milt hinton minnie the. It was alsoapparently the first dictionary authored by an africanamerican.
In 1938, the singer and band leader cab calloway became the first known african american to publish a book and call it a dictionary. His band, originally called the missourians, was one of the most popular africanamerican big bands of the 1930s and 1940s. Bbc dr hepcat and the hepsters dictionary media centre. It featured 200expressions used by the hep cats when they talk their jive in the clubs on lenox avenue. At an age when most people retire and rest on old laurels, calloway keeps a full schedule of touring with a band and singing. Calloway suffered when the swing era rapidly expired after 1945, and the remaining chapters are hardly as interesting as the first. The dictionary is broken up into the following categories jive words, jive phrases, jeographical jive and g. The jim, jam, jumpin jive makes you hephep on the mellow side. A hepster s dictionary, the first dictionary published by an africanamerican. The above essay is an excerpt from a forthcoming book about rockrelated artists who used humor as a primary instrument. Dressed with all the flash of a brand new cadillac, leading a crack band who could swing and sway with both abandon and precision, and spinning demimonde tales of wild good times complete with illegal party favors, calloway was a joyous. Lou shelley in 1945 published the hepcats jive talk dictionary with publishing company the t. How cab calloways hepster dictionary introduced the world to.
Cab calloway live at grande parade du jazz, jul 18, 1977. His small book didnt just document a moment in harlems vibrant history it. His nicknames included sporty from his years in chicago, fump from his time on the road with cab calloway, and the judge from the 1950s and beyond. Jumpin jive cab calloway and the nicholas brothers. Cabell cab calloway iii december 25, 1907 november 18, 1994 was an american jazz singer and bandleader. The book became the official reference book of jive slang in the new york public library. Calloway wrote such hits as minnie the moocher and jumpin jive. Cab calloways hepsters dictionary holds the honour of being the first dictionary penned by an africanamerican. Language of jive published in 38 or 39, depending on the source, and while i have no evidence to back it up, i like to think calloway made up at least a few of the terms just to fuck with people. Cabell cab calloway iii was an american jazz singer and. In fact cabs hipster slang or jive talk caught on with the public, and calloway even produced a book the hepsters dictionary about it.
If you are a cab calloway fan, and want to learn more about his life and his journey through show business. The world is greatly influenced by the legendary cab calloway and his hideho legacy. The hepster dictionary was the first dictionary written. Certainly alyn is right to describe calloway as an allround entertainer but this meant that his repertoire included many songs which could be described as novelty numbers rather than jazz pieces. The other highlights include hideho serenade, fifteen minute intermission, papas in bed with his britches on and are you hep to the jive. Glossary of jive talk wikimili, the best wikipedia reader. Cab calloway, byname of cabell calloway iii, born december 25, 1907, rochester, new york, u. Jumpin jive cab calloway and the nicholas brothers from stormy weather 1943.
In the end theres a nice dictionary of the jive talk calloway and his comrades used in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1939, calloway published an accompanying book titled professor cab calloways swingformation bureau, which instructed readers how to apply the words. Bust your conk on this mess and youll be wailin with the mellows. Are you in the know, or are you a solid bringerdowner. How cab calloways hepster dictionary introduced the. Cab calloway st james infirmary blues extended betty.
Like jazz, jive talk was colorful, improvisational and rhythmic. The hepster dictionary was the first dictionary written by an. A revised version of the book was released with professor cab calloway s swingformation bureau in 1939. It featured 200 expressions used by the hep cats when they talk their jive in the clubs on lenox avenue. If onlyevery amateurlexicographer werefoxy enough to set his or herdefinitions to music, and creep them out like the shadow, as callowaydoes above. Cab calloways hepsters dictionary 1938 is an introduction to the. The club was a whitesonly establishment, but featured many of the. He was associated with the cotton club in harlem, new york city, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His book of jive talk, cab calloways hepsters dictionary, translated some of the lively and inventive slang being used among musicians and entertainers in new.
He released several editions until 1944, the last being the new cab calloway s hepsters dictionary. Cab calloway was a gloriously outsized manifestation of all that was frantic in the first full flowering of prohibitionera jazz. Cab calloways hepster dictionary, a 1939 glossary of. Jan 5, 2016 cabell cab calloway iii was an american jazz singer and bandleader. Great story told like i like it, first person, intimate and peppered with personal slang and speaking of, cab wrote and published the cab calloway hepsters dictionary language of jive. Cab calloway biography childhood, life achievements. And in 1936, the publication of cab calloways hepsters dictionary an annotated glossary of his expansive jive vocabulary helped to spread the word of. The language of jive, in which he translated jive language for fans. Cab calloways hepster dictionary would accompany his sheet music. Calloways band featured trumpeters dizzy gillespie and adolphus doc cheatham, saxophonists ben webster and leon chu berry, new orleans. With this pioneering dictionary, anyone could get hep to the jive. The 1938 dictionary was the work of cab calloway, the influential bandleader and.
In this clip from 1977, the legendary musician cab calloway goes through the meaning of various jive talk words. In the late 1940s, his poor financial decisions and longstanding problems with gambling. In 1944, he published a book called the new cab calloways hepsters dictionary. Cab calloway was a famous singer and bandleader in 1930, and some 60 years later, he is still going strong. He released several editions until 1944, the last being the new cab calloways hepsters dictionary. It was also a matter of survival, writes language historian herbert l. See more ideas about vintage black glamour, jazz blues and black history. Cabell cab calloway iii was an american jazz singer, dancer, bandleader and actor. His niche for mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years. A catalogue record for this book is available from the british library. Cab calloway and his orchestra became a nationwide sensation with their weekly radio broadcast on nbc and their nationwide tours.
Cabell cab calloway iii december 25, 1907 november 18, 1994 was an american jazz singer, dancer, bandleader and actor. Its recommended, as are all of the cds in this important series. Language of jive 1944, in cab calloway and bryant rollins, of. Its usage is now accepted in the movies, on the stage, and in the song. Cab calloway american composer and singer britannica. Travis captured cab calloways true feelings and personality. Heres a clip from the movie stormy weather 1943 featuring cab calloway and his orchestra performing jumpin jive. The cab calloway jive talk hepster dictionary the art of. Hepcats jive talk dictionary was published in 1945, at the height of the swing and jive eras. Cab calloway s hepsters dictionary holds the honour of being the first dictionary penned by an africanamerican. Sketches and has written the script for the comic book cab calloway by cabu. Along with his manager, calloway compiled a short pamphlet that translated jive talk for less hip audiences. Heres a partial listing of cab calloway recordings made.
His book of jive talk, cab calloways hepsters dictionary, translated some of the lively and inventive slang being used among musicians and entertainers in new yorks harlem, for a new audience of. Cab calloways hepster dictionary, a 1939 glossary of the lingo. Cabell cab calloway iii was a famous american jazz singer and bandleader. In 1939, calloway published an accompanying book titled professor cab calloways swingformation bureau, which instructed readers how to apply the words and phrases from the dictionary. The charismatic bandleader not only had a way with words, his love of them led him to compile a hepsters dictionary of harlem musician slang circa 1938. Heres the stone bible for you to collar that apple trickeration that will truly get your boots on. The cab calloway jive talk hepster dictionary the art of manliness. Cab calloways hepster dictionary, a 1939 glossary of the lingo the jive of the harlem. The dictionary provides insight into the lingoslangdialect spoken in a time gone by, by the greats like frank. To help facilitate this, calloway produced a hepster dictionary in 1940 that accompanied cab calloway sheet music.
Jive talk is now an everyday part of the english language. It became the official jive language reference book of the new york public library. Cab calloway the jumping jive lyrics genius lyrics. This book tells how he got started in show business, watching his sister blanche calloway while on tour with her and her band.
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