Cab Calloway Orchestra to Perform

West Seneca, N.Y. – Throw on your zoot suit and get ready to sing those "Hi-De-Ho's" with Minnie the Moocher because the Cab Calloway Orchestra is coming to Buffalo for a benefit concert for Kids Escaping Drugs.

The concert is scheduled for Friday, February 10th at 8:00 p.m. the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall on the campus of Buffalo State College.

Cab Calloway was a native of Rochester who made "Hi-De-Ho" famous. Now, Cab's grandson, Calloway Brooks (Prince of the Hi-De-Ho), is keeping the tradition alive. You'll be transported back to the golden age at the Cotton Club when Cab Calloway himself made Harlem the hot spot of New York City nightlife.

“Another generation of young people has again discovered the jitterbug and Calloway’s HI-DE-HO dance sound thanks to TV’s hot, new ballroom dancing show,” said Don Angelo, co-chairman of the event. “In fact, Cab Calloway was so hep, he even coined the term ‘jitterbug’ in the 1930s.”

Cab Calloway was a musical legend, who made his first nightclub appearance at Chicago’s Dreamland Café at the age of 21 in 1928. Just three short years later Cab Calloway wrote and recorded his theme song Minnie the Moocher which features his famous catch phrase HI DE HO! In addition to being one of the best known musicians of his time, he also appeared in many movies ranging from “Stormy Weather” in 1942 to “The Blues Brothers” in 1980.

“Long before Brian Setzer formed his Orchestra and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy even picked up any instruments, the Cab Calloway Orchestra had people swinging to the hottest sounds in America,” said event co-chairman Steve Reszka. “People will be dancing in the aisles.”

Cab Calloway died in 1994 at the age of 87. However, he passed the conductor’s baton to his grandson Calloway Brooks. Brooks, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in 1980 spent many years on the road with his grandfather. It was during that time that he learned how the music of the Cab Calloway Orchestra touched America. He’s continuing that tradition and adding his own flare to the musical mixture. The Orchestra is considered the house band for the prestigious Rainbow Room located at the top of Rockefeller Center in New York City.

“We are looking forward to hearing the wonderful music of Cab Calloway and his orchestra, and thrilled that the concert will be benefiting Kids Escaping Drugs,” said JoAnne Hudecki, Executive Director of Kids Escaping Drugs.

The concert is being co-sponsored by Georgetown Capital Group and Kleiner Chisholm Insurance.

Pre-sale tickets are $35 and $30. They will be $40 the day of the show. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Rockwell Auditorium box office at 716-878-3005 or going online to www.ticketguys.com/buffalostate.