By Ron Ortiz
The swinging big bands of the 1930s and 40s exemplified the era more than any other single music form. Small hot jazz combos heralded in "The Jazz Age" of the 20s and it was the "swing bands" that closed out the post World War II period. The notable bands of the era were led by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie and Benny Goodman but none captured the times better than Artie Shaw, who died recently at the age of 94.
Shaw was born Arthur Arshawski in New York City in 1910. Artie's family moved to New Haven, Connecticut at an early age so that his immigrant parents could establish a better life for their only son. Shaw took up the saxophone at age 12 but after a few years switched to clarinet because he felt the instrument was more fluid sounding than the sax. Always a restless individual, Artie left home at age 15 and traveled throughout the Midwest, playing with various little-known musical groups.
After a year on the road, Shaw settled in Cleveland to work with violinist Austin Wylie, Cleveland's premiere dance bandleader at the time. While Artie did well with the band, taking over the arranging and rehearsing duties, he soon tired of the music. While in Cleveland, Shaw was exposed to the jazz of Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke and now yearned to play their kind of music. A budding writer as well as a sterling musician, Artie Shaw won an essay-writing contest which took him to Hollywood in 1928. There he met a couple of musicians from New Haven who were working in Irving Aaronson's big band. Shortly afterwards, Artie was invited to join the Aaronson band and once again found himself traveling across the USA. On a Chicago gig, Shaw caught Louis Armstrong in person and became convinced that playing jazz music was what he wanted to do.
Shaw bought all the recordings of Armstrong's "Hot Five" group and adopted some of that jazz style to his own music playing and arranging. Other major influences in Shaw's musical style were the symphonic classical composers such as Stravinsky and Bartok. Later in his career, Artie used both of these musical sources to create unusual (for the times) collaborations of jazz and symphony.
When Aaronson's band came to New York, Shaw decided to stay there and within a year became the most sought after lead alto and clarinet player on New York radio and at recording studios. However, once again, he soon tired of the business of music and "retired" to run a farm in Pennsylvania. Artie moved there with the hopes of developing himself into a serious writer but after a few years, Shaw became frustrated with his writing efforts. He returned to New York and began assembling the first of his many orchestras. In 1936, Shaw formed an unorthodox unit of strings and rhythm section with his clarinet as the only solo instrument. Performing his own composition, "Interlude in B flat," he was an immense success and soon was offered financial backing to tour with a band formed along those lines.
This new band recorded a number of titles for the Brunswick label, notably "Sugar Foot Stomp," "Thou Swell," "Streamline" and "Sweet Lorraine." While the band was successful, Artie had to drop the strings and reorganize with brass and reeds to compete against the brasher swing bands. His swing classic recordings of "Night and Day" and "I Surrender, Dear" were done by this unit. Shaw started a lengthy engagement at the Roseland Ballroom in Boston that allowed him to do late night radio broadcasts. These programs were heard over most of the East Coast, attracting considerable listening audiences. RCA Victor soon offered Shaw a recording contract and he recorded prolifically. He now got choice location jobs and played on many major radio programs. Shaw's band even appeared in the film "Dancing Co-Ed" in 1939. Artie met Lana Turner, the first of his eight wives, on the movie set.
Compared to most swing bands, Shaw did not record many jazz standards and certainly used less riffs than most of his contemporaries. Instead, Artie chose to record melodies like "Begin the Beguine," a little - known Cole Porter show tune. Few could have foreseen "Beguine's" success and today it is still considered a standard item for any anthology of swing classics.
Shaw, always the innovator, was the first bandleader to use a black female vocalist as part of his ensemble. However, this relationship with singer Billie Holliday was short-lived because of the public prejudice against the mixing of the races.
In late November 1939, Shaw again "retired" from the business of music. Pressures of maintaining the band and pleasing the public had been mounting for some time and Shaw feared a physical and mental breakdown. After a period of time in Mexico, Artie returned to form another band in order to fulfill his contractual obligations to RCA Victor. He recorded "Frenesi," a tune he" picked up in Mexico, as well as "Stardust" and "April in Paris." All of these recordings enjoyed immense record sales.
In 1941, Shaw organized still another new band and again challenged racial prejudice by hiring black trumpet player Hot Lips Page as a featured artist. (Later, Artie repeated this challenge by hiring Roy Eldridge, another flamboyant black musician.) There are a number of recordings made with Page taking lengthy trumpet solos. Soon Artie again disbanded, this time enlisting as a seaman in the U.S. Navy. Shaw wasn't in the navy very long before he was asked to form a service band that toured the South Pacific until late 1943 when he was given a discharge.
Shaw's musical career was often overshadowed by his romantic endeavors. Aside from his marriages to Lana Turner, Evelyn Keyes, Kathleen Windsor and Ava Gardner, the handsome clarinetist also had four other wives and numerous affairs that were usually reported in the gossip columns of the period.
Shaw's bands never quite reached their full potential but unlike the other swing bands of the era, his music has survived the test of time better than most. Artie Shaw gave up music permanently in the mid 1950s, moved to Spain for five years and spent the rest of his life writing. His literary output included an autobiography, "The Trouble with Cinderella" (1952), "I Love You, I Hate You, Drop Dead" (1965) and "The Best of Intentions and Other Stories" (1989).
Artie Shaw's music may seem generations away for many but one should treat themselves to Artie Shaw, an unparalelled clarinetist and bandleader. Pick up a few of the many CDs re-released by RCA. A good selection would be "The Very Best of Artie Shaw," a CD compilation of 18 selections reported picked by Shaw himself. This CD is an excellent introduction to Artie Shaw's musical genius.
