Alyn Shipton. Hi-De-Ho: The Life of Cab Calloway. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. 283 pages.
Cab Calloway was an important figure in American popular music history: over his career, which spanned decades, he sold millions of records and blurred several musical genres. His big band was one of the crucibles of bop. In this studiously detailed biography, Shipton recreates both Calloway’s life and the world that he lived in.
Shipton traces Cab’s recording and performing career using solid archival sources and interviews with those who worked with him, but he does much more. He also considers Calloway’s music and image in its broader social context, intersecting with both race and American culture. Even if you’re not familiar with his music, this should be a good read, since Shipton is able to recreate Calloway’s life vividly, thanks to his good sense for detail.
Most of the focus is on elements of Calloway’s life that are easiest to divine from archival sources, such as touring schedules and recording dates, as well as critical analyses of his recorded music and live performances. In addition, thanks in part to interviews with surviving family members, Shipton reconstructs a great deal of Calloway’s childhood and early life. Frequently, he is able to add another dimension to Calloway’s own descriptions of his life and experiences, which adds an interesting perspective.
Much of Calloway’s later life, when he was not recording prolifically, is brushed over quickly, but it is clear that Shipton has devoted a great deal of effort to recreating and discussing the periods of Calloway’s life that are likely most significant. HI-DE-Ho is a masterpiece of well-researched historical biography, and a fascinating read about a talented performer.