Are You Hep To The Jive? Review

07/13/2005 5:45 AM, AMG


An excellent one-disc overview of Calloway's 1940s Okeh, Columbia, and Vocalion recordings. Beyond the showmanship and humor, Calloway had an amazingly swinging big band that was home to emerging jazz stars like Jonah Jones, Chu Berry, Cozy Cole, and (briefly) Dizzy Gillespie. Calloway's riotous vocals and scatting are always a delight, and were an important precursor to bebop. The poet laureate of hip. ~ Joel Roberts, All Music Guide