Artie Shaw

Artie Shaw

Source: Jazz Wax

Born on 23 May 1910 in New York City, clarinetist, Artie Shaw, also a writer, liked to mix classical into his jazz. One of the more unique of the big band leaders, Shaw's first known recordings are thought to have been as a vocalist with the Joe Cantor Orchestra on 13 August 1928 in Richmond, Indiana, rejected by Gennett Records. He next performed clarinet on titles in Chicago with Irving Aaronson on August 28, 1930: 'Why Have You Forgotten Waikiki?' and 'Moonlight on the Colorado' on Brunswick 4883. 'You Forgot Your Gloves' went down with Paul Specht on 28 May 1931 released on Columbia 2472-D. Come radio with Fred Rich in autumn, those titles to see issue in 1975 on 'Friendly Five Footnotes On The Air' per Aircheck 12 and Aircheck 13.

'Moonlight on the Colorado'   Artie Shaw w Irving Aaronson's Commanders

Recorded 22 Aug 1930 in Chicago   Matrix C-6105   Brunswick 4883

Trumpet: Jimmy Taylor / Charlie Trotta   Trombone: Clifford "Red" Stanley

Clarinet: Artie Shaw   Clarinet / tenor sax: Phil Saxe

Alto sax: Toots Mondello   Tenor sax: Tony Pestritto

Piano: Herman Mahr / Chummy MacGregor   Guitar: Ralph Napoli

Violin: Jack Armstrong / Sal Cibelli

Bass / tuba: Mack Walker   Drums: Stanley Johnston

Music: Robert King   Lyrics: Billy Moll

'You Forgot Your Gloves'   Artie Shaw w Paul Specht and his Orchestra

Recorded 28 May 1931 in NYC   Matrix 151572-1   Columbia 2472-D / CB-360

Vocal: Johnny Morris

Music: Ned Lehac   Lyrics: Edward Eliscu

Shaw performed with Roger Wolfe Kahn in 1932, then Adrian Rollini in 1933 and 1934. He backed a few other big names, including the Boswell Sisters and Frank Trumbauer, as a session musician until recording his first title as a bandleader on May 24, 1936, at the Imperial Theatre in NYC: 'Interlude in B Flat'. It was 1936 when he played in the orchestra of Billie Holiday.

'Interlude in B Flat'   Arthur Shaw's Swing String Ensemble

Recorded 24 May 1936 at the Imperial Theater in NYC   Aircheck 1 / 1974

Clarinet: Artie Shaw   Guitar: Ralph Napoli

Violin: Harry Bluestone / Emanuel "Manny" Green

Viola: Isadore Zir   Cello: Rudy Sims   Drums: Art Stein

Composition: Artie Shaw

'No Regrets'   Arthur Shaw w Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra

Recorded 10 July 1936   Matrix 19536 11 1-4 D   Vocalion 3276

Trumpet: Bunny Berigan   Clarinet: Artie Shaw   Piano: Joe Bushkin

Guitar: Dick McDonough

Bass: Pete Peterson   Drums: Cozy Cole

Composition: Harry Tobias / Roy Ingraham

Shaw constantly occupied the higher tiers of the popularity charts from 1938 into the early forties. His initial big success arrived quickly after forming his band via 'There's Frost on the Moon' reaching #10 in 1936. Four of his releases topped Billboard's charts at #1 beginning with his best-selling title overall, Cole Porter's 'Begin the Bequine' in 1938. The beguine is a Caribbean dance similar to the rhumba. It was also 1938 when Shaw hired Ella Fitzgerald and began to tour the South. He started to appear in films in 1939. Shaw's Top Ten titles are as follows:

    There's Frost on the Moon   1936   #10
   Back Bay Shuffle   1938   #8
   Begin the Beguine   1938   #1
   Deep in a Dream   1938   #3
   Goodnight, Angel   1938   #2
   I Have Eyes   1938   #10
   Indian Love Call   1938   #6
   Nightmare   1938   #7
   They Say   Dec 1938   #1
   Comes Love   1939   #4
   I Poured My Heart into a Song   1939   #4
   Melancholy Mood   1939   #8
   Thanks for Everything   1939   #1
   Traffic Jam   1939   #9
   When Winter Comes   1939   #6
   All the Things You Are   1940   #8
   Frenesi   Aug 1940   #1
   Stardust   Jan 1941   #6
   Summit Ridge Drive   Feb 1941   #10
   Concerto for Clarinet   Feb 1941   #10
   Dancing in the Dark   March 1941   #9
   Blues in the Night   Nov 1941   #10
   Just Kiddin' Around   1942   #8
   Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive   Jan 1945   #5
   Count Every Star   July 1950   #10 w Dick Haymes

'Begin the Beguine'   Artie Shaw and His Orchestra

Recorded 24 July 1938   Matrix 024079-1   Bluebird B-7746

Trumpet: John Best / Claude Bowen / Chuck Peterson

Trombone: George Arus / Ted Vesely / Harry Rogers

Clarinet: Artie Shaw

Clarinet / sax: Les Robinson / Hank Freeman / Tony Pastor / Ronnie Perry

Piano: Les Burness   Guitar: Al Avola

Bass: Sid Weiss   Drums: Cliff Leeman

Composition: Cole Porter

'Nightmare' (theme song)   Artie Shaw and His Orchestra

Recorded 27 Sep 1938   Matrix 027229-1   Bluebird B-7875

Trumpet: John Best / Claude Bowen / Chuck Peterson

Trombone: George Arus / Russell Brown / Harry Rogers

Clarinet: Artie Shaw

Clarinet / sax: Hank Freeman / Tony Pastor / Ronnie Perry / Les Burness

Alto sax: George Koenig

Piano: Les Burness   Guitar: Al Avola

Bass: Sid Weiss   Drums: Cliff Leeman

Composition: Artie Shaw

'Concerto for Clarinet'   Artie Shaw and His Orchestra

From the movie 'Second Chorus' filmed Aug 1940   Released 3 Dec 1940

Composition: Artie Shaw

Like other big band leaders, Shaw formed a band within a band in 1940, calling it the Gramercy Five and recording eight tracks with it that year. The Gramercy Five disbanded in 1941, reformed for another string of recordings in 1945, and again from 1949 into 1953. See the CD called 'The Complete Gramercy Five Sessions' released by Bluebird in 1989.

'Summit Ridge Drive'    Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five

Recorded 3 Sep 1940 in Hollywood   Matrix 055062-1   Victor 26763

Trumpet: Billy Butterfield   Clarinet / arrangement: Artie Shaw

Harpsichord: Johnny Guarnieri   Guitar: Al Hendrickson

Bass: Jud DeNaut   Drums: Nick Fatool

Composition: Artie Shaw

'Dancing in the Dark'   Artie Shaw and His Orchestra

Recorded 23 Jan 1941 in Hollywood   Matrix 055256-1   RCA Victor 27335 / 27548

Music: Arthur Schwartz 1931   Lyrics: Howard Dietz

'Moonglow'   Artie Shaw and His Orchestra

Recorded 23 Jan 1941 in Hollywood   Matrix 055258-1   RCA Victor 27405

Composition: Will Hudson / Eddie Delange / Irving Mills

Shaw was earning $60,000 a week as a bandleader when he joined the U.S. Navy in early 1942 after putting down his last civilian titles on January 20-21 of 1942 to yield such as 'Hindustan' and 'Carnival'. Soon upon becoming a stateside sailor Shaw formed a band called the Navy Rangers with which he performed in the Pacific theater. The Rangers recorded on a single occasion on 30 January 1943 in Honolulu for a CBS radio broadcast of 'America Salutes the President'. This was in celebration of President Roosevelt's birthday for which the Rangers performed 'Nightmare' and 'Begin the Beguine' [Myers]. Tom Lord cites 'Spotlite On Shaw' per Big Band Gems BBG 092. Shaw was apparently injured by bombing while in the service, getting hospitalized until his release in February of 1944. Tom Lord has him resuming his recording career on 10 June 1944 during an AFRS radio broadcast on which he performs 'Long  Ago and Far Away'.

During the latter forties Shaw performed with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein. Shaw was an early proponent of Third Stream [Wikipedia], to wit, classical-jazz fusion, the term coined by Gunther Schuller in 1957.

In 1952 Shaw released his autobiography, 'The Trouble With Cinderella: An Outline of Identity'. He recorded some titles with the Gramercy Five in June of 1954, after which he stopped playing clarinet, citing compulsive perfectionism. He conducted recordings by his orchestra in 1955, after which Tom Lord's sessionography loses track of him until 1968 when Lord has him in a final session toward the album, 'Artie Shaw Re-Creates His Great '38 Band'. During that gap Shaw published the fictional work, 'I Love You, I Hate You, Drop Dead: Variations on a Theme', in 1965.

'Besame Mucho'    Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five

Recorded Sep 1953 in NYC   Matrix 5003-A   Bell 1023

Composition: Consuelo Velázquez    1940

'Traffic Jam'    Artie Shaw and His Orchestra

Recorded 1968

From the album 'Artie Shaw Re-Creates His Great '38 Band' on Capitol ST 8-2992

Trumpet: Bernie Privin / Mel Davis   Trombone: Buddy Morrow    Clarinet: Walt Levinsky

Alto sax: Toots Mondello   Tenor sax: Al Klink / Bill Slapin

Bass: Bernie Leighton   Drums: Don Lamond

Composition: Artie Shaw / Ted McRea

Shaw formed another small band in 1981, but assigned its leadership to clarinetist, Dick Johnson [Wikipedia], who would lead Shaw's orchestra from 1983 until 2008 when clarinetist, Matt Koza, took the reins. Shaw permitted only one recording of the new Artie Shaw Orchestra led by Johnson, that on 'Artie's Choice!' in 2004. In 1989 Shaw published his third and last book, the fictional 'The Best of Intentions and Other Stories'.

'Begin the Beguine'    Artie Shaw and the new Artie Shaw Orchestra

Recorded 1984 at Disneyland   Clainet: Dick Johnson

Composition: Cole Porter

Shaw topped out with eight wives during his life (said to be abusively domineering). Beyond music, he was an expert marksman and fly fisherman. One measure of his enormous popularity during his swing years is that he died on 30 December 2004 in Thousand Oaks, California, with an estate worth $1,420,000.