During a usual night in Baltimore in the twenties when the entertainment is all around the city, there is the sound of jazz all over the venues. You can hear the drums vibrating the very floor up into your bones, to the more subtle yet just as impactful sound of the piano tickling the ivory. And what could be at the center of it all but a powerful voice that holds it all together. Cab Calloway was a show off, but he certainly had the skill to impress. Although it was only in the early stages before he became very widely known for his performances at the Cotton Club, jazz did have a big impact on him that began in the 1920’s.
