| "Pickin' The Cabbage," which trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie composed and arranged, forecast the emergence of his new talent and a new jazz sound. "A Bee Gezindt," "Calling All Bars," "Hard- Times," "Bye Bye Blues," `Boo-Wah, Boo' Wah," and "Chop-Chop Charlie Chan" all have Gillespie solos. "He was always ... experimenting' guitarist Danny Barker reflected. "Cab would stop after a number sometimes, and if the arrangement had been changed, he would say: 'Whoever is doing that, the so-and-so should stop it. And you," he would, point to Dizzy, 'I don't want you playing that Chinese music in my band."' "We used to call Cab 'The General' behind his back because he was such a stickler for discipline," pianist Bennie Payne confided.
Cab fired Gillespie, but not for musical reasons. Calloway thought, mistakenly, that Dizzy had thrown a spitball on-stage which landed in the spotlight, in plain view of the audience. "An argument ensued," bassist Milt Hinton recalled. "Cab made a pass at Dizzy and Dizzy came at him with a knife. I grabbed Diz's hand but he was stronger. Cab was nicked in the scuffle before they were separated." Ironically, according to Hinton, the one who actually threw the spitball was trumpeter Jonah Jones.
Years later, I asked Dizzy to sort out the fiction from the truth. "Well, I have a book coming out later on this month and you can look [at] it in my book and read the true story about it," he quipped. Happily, he and Cab had long ago made up and were friends. "I'm the only one who calls him on his birthday, on Christmas; the only one who worked with his band," Gillespie said to me. "And when I call, a lot of times, lot of times, he cries on the phone."
Other players in Calloway's band, such as trumpeters Shad Collins and Mario Bauza, were all accomplished musicians, too. Some, like trombonist Tyree Glenn and tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec, became stars. And some, including tenor saxophonists Ben 'Webster and Illinois Jacquet, were already stars. "My guys had to be masters of their-instruments, an though there are people who-talk about playing by ear, my band had to be able to read to do some of that tricky stuff. Still, I was always lucky in my musicians," Calloway pointed out, Even on arrangements that were primarily vocal features for Cab, he always rewarded the men with an attractive showcase for their talents... "I hear a clear, sharp, crisp sound with strong musicianship," Cab commented after listening to some of his band's recordings.
"I hear a rhythm section that rocks, a brass section that always hits exactly when it's supposed to hit, a reed section that is all over the place, just beautifully toned, and when you put it all together all I can say is that it leaves me feeling good inside."
"I don't know how he did it," drummer 'Panama Francis reminisced, "but that man [Calloway] could sing for three and a half hours. Mostly we were backing his vocals. We had a takeoff on Lionel Hampton's 'Flying Home,' and we had all the things Chuck Berry used to do when he was in the band." There were some new instrumental jazz charts, too, including "Cruisin with Cab," "Body and Soul," "105 in the Shade," and "Frantic On the Atlantic."
"That '40s band was probably the best I've ever had," Cab stated. Unfortunately, the musicians union imposed a recording ban, starting in August 1942, so a lot of great music wasn't commercially recorded and distributed. But there sure was a lot played in-person, including at the Cafe Zanzibar in New York City, and broadcast nationwide over the radio. Cab and his orchestra were frequent guests on the "Fitch Bandwagon" and "Coca-Cola Spotlight Bands" shows, and many times during World War II on Armed Forces Radio service programs, including "Jubilee," "Spotlight Bands," "One Night Stand, "Magic Carpet," and "Teen Timers."
However, never were they, as at least one report claimed, banned from radio, for jazzing up "the Star Spangled Banner." "It was done as a publicity [sic] gag, just a PR. thing," Cab admitted. "They [sic] guy I had who was doing publicity for me, concocted the story." "The band was like being in school all the time," pianist Benny Payne said. "We learned about music, we learned the responsibility. of being professionals, and we learned about life." The men traveled in automobiles, or, often, by train, sometimes with their wives or girlfriends. "We had our own pullman and baggage car," drummer Panama Francis remembered. "And they arranged to travel right into the town, and they pulled us along the, side and we'd go play the dance or play the theater. We'd get back on our pullman. We had seven changes of uniforms, which we never bought or even had them cleaned. He paid for all of that. Every show we had on a different uniform. And in Cab's band, if you didn't have your shoes shined, it cost you $25. That's the only things he didn't furnish. He furnished our socks, our shirts, ties, and suits that we wore. Two sets of drums for me."
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