Cab Callway is one of the greatest Jazz performers. In the 1920's, Cab worked with a band called The Alabamians while studying law at Chicago's Crane College. Cab was the Master of Ceremonies and a singer. He later joined The Missourians which changed its name to Cab Calloway and His Orchestra. His band set trends and introduced a whole new vocabulary as they toured.

In 1930 he replaced Duke Ellington at the exclusive Cotton Club in Harlem. His most famous song, Minnie the Moocher, was written in 1931 and sold over 1,000,000 copies.

The band broke up in the 1940's when bad financial decisions (gambling problems) caught up with Cab