Live music

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho! The irrepressible jazz bandleader-singer-dancer Cab Calloway was recently the subject of a PBS documentary. And the contemporary swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has just released a new album of the late Calloway's ebullient tunes, "How Big Can You Get?" The band ends a stint at Jazz Alley with a 7:30 p.m. show Sunday night (206-441-9729 or www.jazzalley.com).

Misha Berson,

Seattle Times arts writer

CDs

'50 Words for Snow'

Less songs than hushed epics, the seven tracks on Kate Bush's latest CD have a dozy-jazzy three-o'clock-in-the-morning vibe to them. They serve up a fantasia of winter imagery — and a roster of guest stars: Elton John, countertenors Stefan Roberts and Michael Wood, and Bush's son, Albert McIntosh. The title track, where, over a pulsing beat, actor Stephen Fry lists 50 descriptives for the white stuff ("vanilla swarm ... erase-o-dust ... slipperella") is a brisk, chilling pleasure.

Michael Upchurch,

Seattle Times arts writer

Books

'Clark'

Jazz trumpet and fluegelhorn master Clark Terry, whose puckish tone and merry humor percolate through his music, has written a disarmingly honest and thoroughly entertaining autobiography. Starting out poor in St. Louis (where he confesses he at first blew off a high school music teacher who kept touting a kid named Miles Davis), Terry worked with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, "The Tonight Show" band and many others, constantly improving himself. No drug and alcohol sob stories here, just hard work and an exceptionally good nature. This is a sweet read.

Paul de Barros,

Seattle Times jazz critic