Artie Shaw

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Artie Shaw, born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, was an American clarinettist, composer and bandleader. He was born in 1910 in New York and grew up in New Haven. At thirteen he learned to play the saxophone, at sixteen he switched to clarinet and went on the road with a band. In the 1930s he worked as a studio musician and played in orchestras, until in 1935 he attracted attention with Interlude in B-flat, a piece for rhythm section and string quartet that was later seen as an early example of Third Stream.

Music and breakthrough

His breakthrough came in 1938 with Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine. Hits followed such as Stardust, Back Bay Shuffle, Moonglow and Frenesi. In 1938 he hired Billie Holiday as his singer, the first white bandleader to tour the segregated South with a permanent Black singer. Besides his big orchestra he had a small group, the Gramercy Five, which included a harpsichord, among other instruments. With it he had Summit Ridge Drive. Shaw also added strings to the big band, so that he got more colour and could play ballads. In the Second World War he served in the navy. In 1954 he gave up music altogether and wrote books.

Influence

Shaw above all wanted to make music, and hated celebrity life and the endless repetition of the same hits. His bands kept starting and ending again. Even so he is regarded as one of the best clarinettists in jazz, with a fluid, clear tone and an open ear for other styles.

Listening

• 
  Begin the Beguine · Artie Shaw, 1938

Discography

Studio albums

• 1965Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Artie Shaw and Their Orchestras

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• After Hours: Session 1^NL Reader