Rochester’s Music Connection…. Jazzman Cab Calloway, Horn Player Chuck Mangione and …. Foreigner.

I was born and raised in Rochester N.Y. Never gave it a thought that all these talented groups and performers were either from my hometown or that not every town or city has it owns claim to fame.

Cab Calloway-

Above- Cab with his band in the background. Looking dapper, this guy was a bundle of energy and could scat with the best of them.

I would hear Cab’s music played at the Corn Hill Arts Festival. And in his case, I did not know he was from Rochester. Cab goes back to the he days of Betty Boop and his “boppin” Minnie the Moocher (1930) and the 1932 cartoon/live action short of the same title featured him and Betty in a what is hailed as an all-time classic. He was a Christmas baby -born 1927. He was schooled in music by the great Satchmo- Louis Armstrong in the scat style of song. His band included another legend in music-trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Cab was blessed with his own radio show and worked so many greats including Bing Crosby. Many accolades, he was the African American to sell a million records. He is in the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. Not bad for a kid caught playing “dice” on the church steps.

***Scat or scat singing-is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables.

Cab also appeared in several well-known films (The Blues Brothers and Hello Dolly) and made TV guest spots including one of my favorite episodes of…