[Dixielandjazz] Calloway and the birth of Wikipedia legends.

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

I suppose the posting about Cab Calloway and "Birth of the Blues" is of OKOM relevance in demonstrating what can happen.  The notion that Calloway made an early recording of the number presumably derives from the isolated reference to Calloway in Wikipedia's entry on the song as having recorded it. Maybe the anonymous amateur had a memory of hearing Calloway sing it, but all the Wiki entry says is that Calloway sang it, not that he was an early performer of the song on record. 
He seems not to have recorded it deliberately until 1958!  The only earlier recordings were of 1944 broadcasts, where Cab had presumably had some reason for bringing the number into his concert repertoire.  It's all too easy to confuse a situation where an amateur writer of a Wiki entry has lacked reference sources and -- meaning well -- relied on dodgy hearsay, with the supposition that somebody actually well-informed had been a bit too short with real info. 
Next thing, somebody will be remarking on how Danny Kaye recorded with Louis Armstrong or was the spitting image of a trumpeter called Fred Nichols. Or all three ....  Three?   Whoops!