Artie Shaw

Artie Shaw, a brilliant jazz clarinetist, was one of the most enigmatic, daring and adventurous bandleaders of the swing-era. An intellectual, he hated public life and the music industry. Over the course of his short career he formed ten orchestras and disbanding most of them after only a few months. At the peak of his career in the years just before World War II, Shaw was matched by few other musicians in popularity and technical skill.

Born Arthur Arshawsky in New York City and raised in Connecticut, Shaw took up the saxophone at an early age and began playing professionally when he was only 14. He left home at 15 for a job in Kentucky. The position never materialized and he was forced to play with traveling orchestras in order to get home. At age 16 he switched to the clarinet and went to Cleveland, where he spent three years playing in local groups, including that of Austin Wylie.

In 1929 Shaw joined Irving Aaronson's Commanders. While traveling the country with the band he discovered the works of contemporary avant-garde classical composers whose influence would later surface in his own music. When the Commanders arrived for a gig in New York, Shaw decided to remain. There he freelanced with many of the top artists of the day, including Vincent Lopez, Red Nichols, and Teddy Wilson. He also briefly spent time with Fred Rich's orchestra and toured with Roger Wolfe Kahn.

In 1934 Shaw became disillusioned with the music industry and quit for the first of what would be many times. He bought a farm in Pennsylvania and tried his hand at being a writer. He soon returned to New York and took up studio work again. He was one of the most successful studio musicians in the city when in 1935 he was asked to lead a small group during intermissions at a swing concert held by the Imperial Theater. He put together an unusual outfit consisting of a string quartet, a rhythm section minus piano, and his clarinet.

Shaw's unique combination was wildly received by the audience. He was offered financial backing to form his own orchestra, and in 1936 he debut his first dance band, which featured a Dixieland approach and a string quartet. The new group made some impressive recordings but couldn't compete with the brassier swing orchestras of the day, so Shaw disbanded it the following year and formed a more conventional big band.

His new outfit was a huge success, featuring such musicians as Georgie Auld, Buddy Rich, Tony Pastor, and Jerry Gray. Vocalists included Billie Holiday, Kitty Kallen, Peg LaCentra, and Helen Forrest. Shaw could scarcely have known that within a short time he would make a hit record of a song called “Begin the Beguine.” The breakthrough hit record catapulted him into the ranks of top band leaders and he was immediately dubbed the new "King of Swing." Shaw's recording of the song continues to sell and has become one of the best-selling records in history.

In September of 1938 Shaw collapsed on stage due to exhaustion. He was also absent from the band in the summer of 1939 due to illness. Upon his return to good health he announced he was quitting the business again but was talked out of it by Gray and Pastor. He didn't stay long however. He left in November and moved to Mexico.

Shaw returned to the U.S. two months later and formed a 32-piece studio orchestra which recorded several songs, including his famous version of ''Frenesi.'' Later in the year, he formed a new band of his own that included the now famous Gramercy Five, with which he recorded several more smash hits, among them his by now classic version of “Star Dust,” plus a number of other fine recordings such as “Moonglow,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Concerto for Clarinet,” and many others. Ray Conniff arranged for the new group and Anita Boyer sang. Shaw again grew restless and disbanded his new outfit in early 1941. He formed another group in the fall of that year. Vocalists included Bonnie Lake, Paula Kelly and Fredda Gibson (later to become Georgia Gibbs). He also disbanded this group soon after starting it, in January of 1942.

In April Shaw joined the Navy. After going through boot camp and serving two months on a minesweeper he was put in charge of a service band. He shaped up the group and took it on a tour of Pacific combat zones, often playing in dangerous and primitive conditions. The strain of such an endeavor soon got to him, however, and he was medically discharged in November 1943.

By fall of 1944 Shaw's health had recovered and he formed a new civilian band, which included Conniff, Barney Kessel, Roy Eldridge, and Dodo Marmarosa. Imogene Lynn provided vocals. By 1947 he had quit that group and taken up the study of classical clarinet, for which he performed and recorded an album. In 1949 Shaw formed a bop orchestra. He again quit the music industry in 1951 and retired to a farm, where he wrote his autobiography.

In 1954 he returned briefly to music with a new Gramercy Five, but by the end of the year Artie Shaw had packed up his clarinet for the last time. He spent the rest of his life doing various concerns: writing and working briefly as a film distributor and a gun expert. He moved to Spain in 1955, to Connecticut in 1960, and to Southern California in 1973. In the 1980s he formed a new orchestra for special performances, though he did not play in it himself. The 1985 film documentary “Time Is All You've Got” traced his career in some detail. Shaw suffered from ill health the last few years of his life. He passed away on December 30, 2004. Source: James Nadal

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Chapter 5: Art Goes Artie

by Larry Slater
September 11, 2026

Artie Shaw was an enigma. A self-taught, brilliant clarinetist blessed with movie-star good looks, he became one of the defining musicians of the Big Band era. Yet at the height of his fame, he walked away from the music business, leaving behind a legacy as fascinating as it was influential. In the early 1990s, Ted Hallock--a passionate jazz scholar and former Oregon State Senator--spent a week with Shaw recording an extraordinary series of in-depth conversations about music, life ...

Radio & Podcasts

Chapter 4: So, You Liked It Then?

by Larry Slater
September 4, 2026

Radio & Podcasts

Chapter 3: Manic in Manhattan

by Larry Slater
August 28, 2026

Artie Shaw was an enigma. A self-taught, brilliant clarinetist blessed with movie-star good looks, he became one of the defining musicians of the Big Band era. Yet at the height of his fame, he walked away from the music business, leaving behind a legacy as fascinating as it was influential. In the early '90s, Ted Hallock--a passionate jazz scholar and former Oregon state senator--spent a week with Shaw recording an extraordinary series of in-depth conversations about music, life ...

Radio & Podcasts

Chapter 2: I Want To Be A Sideman

by Larry Slater
August 21, 2026

Radio & Podcasts

Chapter 1: Whatever Happened to Arthur Arshawsky?

by Larry Slater
August 14, 2026

Opinion

The Cinderella So Few Got to Hear: Late Artie Shaw is the Best Artie Shaw

by Richard J Salvucci
March 7, 2025

Artie Shaw will always be a bit of a puzzle to his fans--"morons, “ as he once characterized some of us. The best band he ever fronted, and said so more than once, was his 1949-50 “bop" band. Benny Goodman had a similar outfit around the same time, which, like Shaw's, featured excellent young musicians who were comfortable with the bop idiom. But as for the clarinet playing, Goodman's remained more swing than bop, while Shaw's was arguably the other ...

Radio & Podcasts

The Swing Era Big Bands (1936 - 1941)

by Russell Perry
March 26, 2019

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the very dance-oriented swinging music of the Big Bands was the most popular music around. Never had jazz been more central to mass culture. Just over the horizon were the draft of 1940 that eventually conscripted 10 million men, making it increasingly difficult to field top notch bands; war shortages of gasoline and shellac limiting both touring and recording; the economic infeasibility of touring with 16-member orchestras; the musicians strike and recording ban ...

TV / Film

On April 25, Explore The Life And Times Of A Singular Jazz Icon With 'Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got', Winner Of The 1986 Oscar For Best Documentary, Now Restored In 4k

Source: Michael Krause
April 25, 2025

Outspoken, manipulative, independent thinking and oftentimes controversial, Artie Shaw (1910-2004) was one of the most popular stars of the Swing Era, who famously broke the color barrier by hiring the legendary Billie Holiday, Hot Lips Page and Roy Eldridge for his bands. His complex love-hate relationship with his own celebrity caused him to walk away from performing almost as many times as he walked away from his marriages. Winner of the 1986 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Artie Shaw: ...
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Interview

Interview: Artie Shaw Takes the Gloves Off

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 17, 2025

I've long known that Artie Shaw was outspoken, mercurial and blunt. As a boy wonder in the band business in the 1930s, Shaw was also temperamental and didn't tolerate boredom or repetition for long. But I didn't realize how outspoken he was until I heard a lengthy interview with Shaw that surfaced last week. Pete Neighbour, a clarinetist and saxophonist, alerted me to it. Interviewed by Joe Smith of the Library of Congress on July 1, 1986, Shaw spoke freely. ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Artie Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
May 23, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Artie Shaw's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Artie Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
May 23, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Artie Shaw's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Artie Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
May 23, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Artie Shaw's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Artie Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
May 23, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Artie Shaw's birthday today!

Video / DVD

Artie Shaw: Love of My Life

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
December 6, 2019

Artie Shaw's first feature-length film was Second Chorus, in 1940. By then, the 30-year-old clarinetist was earning up to $60,000 a week ($1.1 million in today's dollars), becoming the best-paid and most celebrated music star of the swing era. That same year, he recorded his massive hit Frenesi with a pickup orchestra, married actress Lana Turner and appeared on the radio regularly behind George Burns and Gracie Allen (they each made $5,000 a week). Shaw formed a new band in ...
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Birthday