HI DE HO on Wall St

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a nice review of Hi De Ho from Will Friedwald, the author of Jazz Singing. He seems to like the musical analysis stuff, but gripes a bit about not placing Cab fully in American culture. It’s a good excuse for a gag about Groucho Marx. But as his chronology of Cab’s early years slightly garbles the story of the bands he led (he brought the Alabamians TO New York, he didn’t find them there) I wonder how closely he was paying attention. There is a half chapter about Cab’s impact on European culture and the whole cult of the “Zazous” in France. Maybe that was more significant than giving Groucho the raw material for a one-liner? Anyway, it’s good to be reviewed in so prestigious a paper and Will is very kind about my musicological stuff.