Artie Shaw

Artie Shaw stood out as one of jazz’s most accomplished clarinetists yet never appeared content with his artistic path, repeatedly dissolving thriving ensembles and stepping away from widespread acclaim. Unlike Count Basie and Duke Ellington, who each fronted a single orchestra throughout the swing years, or Benny Goodman, who directed two because of health issues, Shaw assembled five separate groups, every one distinctive and memorable.

New York City served as his birthplace, while New Haven, Connecticut, became the setting for his early local performances on clarinet and alto. He spent part of 1925 in Johnny Cavallaro’s dance band, then alternated between 1927 and 1929 with Austin Wylie’s ensemble in Cleveland before moving on to Irving Aaronson’s Commanders. Back in New York he forged close ties with Willie “The Lion” Smith through jam sessions and, by 1931, had established himself as a sought-after studio musician. In 1934 he withdrew from music altogether, intending to write a book, yet returned once funds dwindled. A pivotal moment arrived in May 1936 when he appeared at an all-star big-band concert at the Imperial Theatre; the audience was astonished to hear him perform with a string quartet and rhythm section. He adapted that approach for his debut orchestra, incorporating a Dixieland-style front line and a vocalist alongside the strings. Although the recordings proved strong, the band dissolved early in 1937, prompting Shaw to form a more traditional big band.

The unexpected triumph of his 1938 recording of “Begin the Beguine” transformed the clarinetist into a superstar and elevated his orchestra—featuring Georgie Auld’s tenor saxophone, vocals by Helen Forrest and Tony Pastor, and, by 1939, Buddy Rich’s drumming—to international prominence. Billie Holiday spent several months with the group, though only “Any Old Time” was captured on disc. Finding the demands of bandleading overwhelming, Shaw abruptly left the stage in November 1939 and relocated to Mexico for two months. Upon his return, a session with an expanded string section yielded the major hit “Frenesi,” underscoring his inability to evade success. His third regular orchestra, distinguished by a string section and standout soloists including trumpeter Billy Butterfield and pianist Johnny Guarnieri, ranked among his strongest; it produced perhaps the definitive “Stardust” as well as the notable “Concerto for Clarinet.” The Gramercy Five, a smaller unit drawn from the band and featuring Guarnieri on harpsichord, also enjoyed success with the million-selling “Summit Ridge Drive.”

Nevertheless, Shaw disbanded the orchestra in 1941 only to assemble an even larger one later that year, this time spotlighting Hot Lips Page alongside Auld and Guarnieri. Following Pearl Harbor he enlisted and directed a Navy band, which went unrecorded, before receiving a medical discharge in February 1944. Later that year his new orchestra included Roy Eldridge, Dodo Marmarosa, and Barney Kessel, while Shaw’s own playing grew increasingly modern and nearly boppish. With the close of the swing era he again dissolved the band in early 1946 and remained semi-retired for several years, devoting equal attention to classical repertoire and jazz.

His final big-band venture proved brief: a modernistic unit that operated for a few months in 1949 and featured Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, and Don Fagerquist, yet met with commercial indifference. After limited activity, Shaw returned once more, recording extensively with a reconstituted Gramercy Five that included Tal Farlow or Joe Puma on guitar and Hank Jones on piano. In 1955 he permanently set aside the clarinet to concentrate on writing. Although he served as frontman—while Dick Johnson handled the clarinet solos—for a revived Artie Shaw Orchestra in 1983, Shaw never performed again. Publicity often centered on his eight marriages, among them unions with actresses Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, and Evelyn Keyes, and on his unconventional autobiography, The Trouble with Cinderella, which largely avoids the music industry and his spouses; still, the candid Shaw merits remembrance above all as one of the truly exceptional clarinetists.