Search - Artist/Band: Artie Shaw

• Name: Artie Shaw
• Birthday: 05/23/1910
• Birth Place: New York, NY
• Died: 12/30/2004
• Decades Active: 1930,1940,1950
• Genre: Jazz
• Styles: Big Band, Sweet Bands, Swing
• Moods: Elegant, Stylish, Bright, Freewheeling, Playful, Sophisticated, Amiable/Good-Natured, Exuberant, Joyous, Refined/Mannered, Carefree, Energetic, Fun

Title	Release
Begin the Beguine [Dynamic]	10/23/2007
Scott Joplin: Ragtime Piano Roll [90th Anniversary Edition]	2007
1951-1954 WA	03/21/2006
1950	11/08/2005
Summit Ridge Drive	08/23/2005
The Artie Shaw Story	08/23/2005
The Complete Rhythm Makers Sessions 1937-1938, Vol. 3 WA	08/23/2005
The Essential Artie Shaw	08/16/2005
Best of Artie Shaw [St. Clair]	07/12/2005
Artie Shaw and Fats Waller	06/07/2005
Artie Shaw [Platinum Disc]	06/07/2005
A Memorial Album	05/17/2005
King of Swing	04/26/2005
Jazz Moods: Hot	04/19/2005
20 Best of Artie Shaw	01/18/2005
Scott Joplin: Original Rags	2005
Artistry of Artie Shaw 1949	11/16/2004
1946-1950	09/21/2004
The Artistry of Artie Shaw	09/07/2004
The Centennial Collection	08/24/2004
Stardust [RCA]	07/20/2004
Begin the Beguine [Acrobat]	05/12/2004
1945 Spotlight Bands Broadcasts	04/06/2004
1945-1946	02/17/2004
The Complete Rhythm Makers Sessions 1937-1938, Vol. 2 WA	2004
Goodnight Angel	10/21/2003
The Complete Rhythm Makers Sessions 1937-1938, Vol. 1 WA	10/21/2003
Everything's Jumpin' and Other Hits	10/10/2003
His First Three Bands: 1936-1940	05/06/2003
1939 Original Studio Radio Transcriptions	04/29/2003
1945	02/25/2003
Original Studio Radio Transcriptions	02/25/2003
Scott Joplin: Elite Syncopations	2003
Scott Joplin: The Entertainer	2003
Dancing on the Ceiling	12/04/2002
Blues in the Night [2002]	11/25/2002
1942-1945 WA	09/24/2002
Cool Daddy: Experiments With Be-Bop	08/01/2002
Begin the Beguine [Rajon]	05/28/2002
1941-1942	05/07/2002
In the Mood with Artie Shaw	01/15/2002
1944-1945	10/09/2001
Best of the War Years	09/18/2001
Highlights from Self Portrait [Bluebird Anthology]	09/11/2001
Swing Legends: 22 Classic Hits WA	09/04/2001
1940-1941	08/07/2001
Jazz After Hours	08/07/2001
The Instrumental Side of Artie Shaw	07/31/2001
Big Band Legends	05/01/2001
Evensong	02/27/2001
The Very Best of Artie Shaw	01/09/2001
1940	11/14/2000
Begin the Beguine [BMG]	09/20/2000
Portrait of Artie Shaw	09/19/2000
Big Band Dance Party: The Music of Artie Shaw	07/31/2000
Artie Shaw: 1939-1940 WA	03/14/2000
The V-Disc Recordings WA	07/20/1999
1939, Vol. 2 WA	07/13/1999
What Is This Thing Called Love	06/01/1999
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra [Javelin]	05/01/1999
Dancing in the Dark	04/13/1999
Artie & the Singers	02/19/1999
Big Band Bash	01/26/1999
1939	10/06/1998
Planet Jazz	08/25/1998
Concerto for Clarinet	02/24/1998
1938	01/13/1998
1937	1997
Great Artie Shaw [Beacon]	1997
1936	11/19/1996
1936-1937 WA	11/19/1996
Let's Go for Shaw	07/09/1996
Chant	07/02/1996
Indian Love Call	09/18/1995
The Indispensable Artie Shaw, Vol. 1-2: 1938-1939	03/13/1995
The Indispensable Artie Shaw, Vol. 3-4: 1940-1942	03/13/1995
Gloomy Sunday [Pickwick]	07/27/1994
Artie Shaw, Vol. 2	06/28/1994
In the Blue Room/In the Café Rouge	02/21/1994
Astonishing Artie Shaw	1994
The Essence of Artie Shaw [Sony]	1994
Artie Shaw & His Orchestra 1939-1940	11/18/1993
Begin the Beguine [ASV Living Era]	11/08/1993
King of the Clarinet 1938-39	08/04/1993
The It Goes to Your Feet: Best of the Big Bands, Vol. 2	06/01/1993
Begin the Beguine [Pro Arte]	10/19/1992
The Last Recordings, Vol. 2: The Big Band	10/09/1992
Giants of the Big Band: Artie Shaw	09/30/1992
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra [ASV/Living Era]	05/14/1992
Artie Shaw & His Orchestra WA	1992
Frenesi	1992
Swing Back with Artie Shaw	09/17/1991
Jazz Collector Edition: Artie Shaw and His Orchestra	1991
America Swings: The Great Artie Shaw	1987
Begin the Beguine [Bluebird/RCA]	1987
Non-Stop Flight	01/12/1955
Last Recordings: Rare and Unreleased	02/1954
More Last Recordings	02/1954
Irresistible Swing	11/14/1945
Mixed Bag	09/1945
The Indispensable Artie Shaw, Vol. 5-6 WA	11/23/1944
Blues in the Night WA	09/02/1941
The Complete Gramercy Five Sessions WA	09/03/1940
Traffic Jam [Viper's Nest]	12/14/1938
The Uncollected Artie Shaw & His Orchestra, Vol. 2: 1938	12/02/1938
The Uncollected Artie Shaw & His Orchestra, Vol. 1: 1938	11/29/1938
Radio Years, Vol. 1, 1938	11/25/1938
Big Bands: Encore Artie Shaw	09/27/1938
Big Bands [Time Life]	07/24/1938
Greatest Hits [RCA]	07/24/1938
Personal Best	04/24/1938
Artie Shaw and His Rhythm Makers (1938)	02/1938
1938-1939 Old Gold Shows	1938
22 Original Big Band Hits WA	1938
Introduction to Artie Shaw: His Best 1937-1942	09/17/1937
Masterpieces, Vol. 11	09/17/1937
Artie Shaw and His New Music	08/1937
Free for All	1937
Thou Swell	12/23/1936
The Best of the Big Bands	06/11/1936
Who's Excited	06/11/1936
In the Beginning: 1936	1936
Jazz Legacy: The Best of the Big Bands	1936
New Music (1935)	1935
B.O. Scott Joplin: 50 Ragtime Favorites
Dance Hall Days: Sounds of the Big Bands, Vol. 2
Ragtime
The Best of Artie Shaw [RCA]

One of jazz's finest clarinetists, Artie Shaw never seemed fully satisfied with his musical life, constantly breaking up successful bands and running away from success. While Count Basie and Duke Ellington were satisfied to lead just one orchestra during the swing era, and Benny Goodman (due to illness) had two, Shaw led five, all of them distinctive and memorable.

After growing up in New Haven, CT, and playing clarinet and alto locally, Shaw spent part of 1925 with Johnny Cavallaro's dance band and then played off and on with Austin Wylie's band in Cleveland from 1927-1929 before joining Irving Aaronson's Commanders. After moving to New York, Shaw became a close associate of Willie "The Lion" Smith at jam sessions, and by 1931 was a busy studio musician. He retired from music for the first time in 1934 in hopes of writing a book, but when his money started running out, Shaw returned to New York. A major turning point occurred when he performed at an all-star big band concert at the Imperial Theatre in May 1936, surprising the audience by performing with a string quartet and a rhythm section. He used a similar concept in putting together his first orchestra, adding a dixieland-type front line and a vocalist while retaining the strings. Despite some fine recordings, that particular band disbanded in early 1937 and then Shaw put together a more conventional big band.

The surprise success of his 1938 recording of "Begin the Beguine" made the clarinetist into a superstar and his orchestra (who featured the tenor of Georgie Auld, vocals by Helen Forrest and Tony Pastor, and, by 1939, Buddy Rich's drumming) into one of the most popular in the world. Billie Holiday was with the band for a few months, although only one recording ("Any Old Time") resulted. Shaw found the pressure of the band business difficult to deal with and in November 1939 suddenly left the bandstand and moved to Mexico for two months. When Shaw returned, his first session, utilizing a large string section, resulted in another major hit, "Frenesi"; it seemed that he could not escape success. Shaw's third regular orchestra, who had a string section and such star soloists as trumpeter Billy Butterfield and pianist Johnny Guarnieri, was one of his finest, waxing perhaps the greatest version of "Stardust" along with the memorable "Concerto for Clarinet." The Gramercy Five, a small group formed out of the band (using Guarnieri on harpsichord), also scored with the million-selling "Summit Ridge Drive."

Despite all this, Shaw broke up the orchestra in 1941, only to re-form an even larger one later in the year. The latter group featured Hot Lips Page along with Auld and Guarnieri. After Pearl Harbor, Shaw enlisted and led a Navy band (unfortunately unrecorded) before getting a medical discharge in February 1944. Later in the year, his new orchestra featured Roy Eldridge, Dodo Marmarosa, and Barney Kessel, and found Shaw's own style becoming quite modern, almost boppish. But, with the end of the swing era, Shaw again broke up his band in early 1946 and was semi-retired for several years, playing classical music as much as jazz.

His last attempt at a big band was a short-lived one, a boppish unit who lasted for a few months in 1949 and included Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, and Don Fagerquist; their modern music was a commercial flop. After a few years of limited musical activity, Shaw returned one last time, recording extensively with a version of the Gramercy Five that featured Tal Farlow or Joe Puma on guitar along with Hank Jones. Then, in 1955, Artie Shaw permanently gave up the clarinet to pursue his dreams of being a writer. Although he served as the frontman (with Dick Johnson playing the clarinet solos) for a reorganized Artie Shaw Orchestra in 1983, Shaw never played again. He received plenty of publicity for his eight marriages (including to actresses Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, and Evelyn Keyes) and for his odd autobiography, -The Trouble With Cinderella (which barely touches on the music business or his wives), but the outspoken Artie Shaw deserves to be best remembered as one of the truly great clarinetists. His RCA recordings, which were reissued in complete fashion in a perfectly done Bluebird LP series, have only been made available in piecemeal fashion on CD. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide