****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Artie Shaw was one of the most perplexing personalities to emerge from the big band era. Scarred by antisemitism both real and perceived during his youth, Shaw developed a prickly personality that was characterized by egotism, envy, and jealousy of his rival, Benny Goodman, and a driven desire to succeed. Originally an Alto Saxophone player, Shaw literally dedicated most of his waking energies to the goal of becoming a clarinet virtuoso by practicing as much as 12 hours a day while he held down studio work with New York's first call musicians. His drive to be a success was a two edged sword - he hated the business of music while paying homage to the artistry of musical expression. He was not particularly well liked and his monumental attitude of superiority resulted in his hunger for success and then hating it when he got it. He called the fans who worshiped him morons and worse. He had a great band by 1939 and after suffering from at least two nervous breakdowns left the band and fled to Mexico only to re-emerge three months later to take an entirely new direction in his career. There is no doubt that Shaw became the most elegant and talented lyric clarinettist of the era. His tone and range were astonishing. His control of the clarion register was peerless. He was, to my mind, not as gifted a jazz player as Benny, but as Benny said, Shaw was a "hell of a clarinet player". The paradox with Artie Shaw was that he saw himself as a musical revolutionary - his first band of 1936 to early 1937 had a string compliment and was billed, as was his second band, "Artie Shaw's New Music". It wasn't of course. Other musicians had used strings before he did, and the experiment was a failure. This CD features the second incarnation of the New Music theme. The selections are from the waning days of his contract with Brunswick records just months before his breakout recording of "Begin the Beguine" for Bluebird in early 1938. In his book, The Swing Era, Gunther Schuller is somewhat dismissive of this band. His main critique is that it is hardly new music - in fact he asserts that Ellington, Lunceford, Webb, and even Goodman, were more modern in concept and execution. The tunes here are pleasant and they do have a fine lilt to them. They do not possess the thunder and lightning of Goodman's band, nor the finesse of Lunceford, the momentum of Webb, and certainly not the inventiveness of Ellington. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the music very much. The elements of his breakout band are there - the strong alto lead and the tight ensemble and solid rhythm section. The arrangements by Al Avola and Harry Rodgers are very tuneful and in many instances are harbingers of what Shaw's successful third band will sound like. I am not a huge fan of Peg LaCentra, Shaw's vocalist. Her tonal center is undone by her very pronounced vibrato. His other vocalist, Nita Bradley is better, but cannot compare with Helen Forrest. Another curious anomaly about Shaw is his almost bipolar musical taste. He developed a fondness for the strange sonorities of such tunes as his theme song, "Nightmare". While Goodman invited you to dance with his theme, "Let's Dance", Shaw wanted to scare the wits out of you. He loved and often performed some truly awful tunes like The Chant - a weird homage to some sort of tribal ritual. He was also, oddly enough, at the same time a musical conservative. He recorded any number of chestnuts like Vilia, Copenhagen, and Shine on Harvest Moon, while espousing his notion of modernism with such compositions as "Moonray" and "Man From Mars". All in all, this CD is like excavating an archeological dig. It reveals a forward motion and self-discovery by Shaw that developed into fruition in 1939 when he added Georgie Auld and the incomparable Buddy Rich to the band. Then he had it! This CD is recommended as a stop along the way. It is well played and enjoyable. I especially found the sides featuring Leo Watson of the New Spirits of Rhythm scatting along with the band to be alot of fun. This a a must for completists, and as part of the comprehensive Classics series a must have offering.
