In 1926, Shaw moved to Cleveland and worked for four years as the music director for an orchestra led by a violinist, Austin Wylie. This provided extensive and valuable writing and arranging experience for the still-teenaged Shaw. After that job, he toured with Irving Aaronson (playing tenor sax) and went to New York with him. There, he jammed with and came under the influence of the great stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith. Shaw later performed arrangements of some of Smith's tunes. Shaw remained in New York, eventually becoming the first call alto player in the recording studios.
Over the next few years he played on countless record dates, often sitting next to such other then-session musicians as Benny Goodman, the Dorsey brothers, Bunny Berigan, Jack Teagarden, and Claude Thornhill.
In 1936, Shaw formed his first group, an unusual ensemble consisting of clarinet, rhythm section, and string quartet. It performed his composition "Interlude in B-flat" at the Imperial Theatre, catching the ear of Tommy Rockwell, head of the Rockwell-O'Keefe booking agency. Rockwell convinced Shaw to add two trumpets, trombone, tenor sax, and a singer, and the new augmented group debuted at the Lexington hotel. Its distinctive sound and approach did not catch on with a public hungry for the orthodox swing of bands like the Dorseys, Goodman, and Charlie Barnet, so the group disbanded in early 1937, after which Shaw decided to form a swing group of his own.
The new band featured music and arrangements by violinist Jerry Gray, trombonist Harry Rodgers, and Shaw. It began a residency at the Roseland-State Ballroom, from which it broadcast regularly. Billie Holiday was on the band briefly at this time. Shaw later said of her, "Nobody would let me record her. People were up tight about that stuff then. The vice presidents didn't want the band to play too much jazz, either. Dance music was what was selling."
Holiday eventually left the band due to the incessant racial hostility she encountered from club owners and employees, and Helen Forrest became the primary singer for the band.
In 1938, Shaw told Gray to arrange an old Cole Porter tune, "Begin the Beguine," and it was recorded on the band's first session for Bluebird, becoming the first big hit for Shaw. Others followed: "Indian Love Call," "Back Bay Shuffle," "Non-Stop Flight," "Yesterdays," and the band's theme song, "Nightmare."
The band was catapulted to fame by strong record sales and radio exposure, but Shaw had trouble adjusting. He was not at all interested in the business aspects of his work, being primarily concerned with the music. Aside from his annoyance at the music business, Shaw was also ticked off by the invasions of his privacy (his two failed marriages to Lana Turner and Ava Gardner attracted much interest). The critic John McDonough wrote, "his status as a swing idol had nothing to do with the music he was playing and his aspirations as an artist. In fact, it was inimical to both." The music, however, was always of high quality, especially with the addition (in fall 1938) of Buddy Rich, who lit a fire under the group.
The pressures of fame weakened Shaw, however, and while in Hollywood working on the band's first film (DANCING CO-ED), he collapsed ill. Upon his recovery, he attempted to quit, but was persuaded by the band to stay on slightly longer. Shaw had finally had enough by November of 1938, though, and he broke the band up. It should be noted that Shaw himself wasn't easy to get along with, by his own admission. He saw himself as an intellectual, and had a tendency to look down on musicians and fans who lacked interests outside music. This naturally created additional pressures within all the groups he had.
In 1939, after a long rest, Shaw recorded again with a studio orchestra with strings, producing another hit, "Frenesi." Its success prompted another touring band, this time with strings, out of which Shaw formed a combo he called the Gramercy Five. The first edition of this small group included Billy Butterfield on trumpet and Johnny Guarnieri on harpsichord. It recorded several important sides, such as "Special Delivery Stomp" and "Summit Ridge Drive." The full band also recorded a classic version of "Stardust" in 1940 that featured excellent solos by Shaw and trombonist Jack Jenney.
In early 1941, however, Shaw disbanded, again for personal reasons. He stayed in New York to study orchestration and record (one session included Benny Carter, Red Allen, and J.C. Higginbotham). Later that year, Shaw formed yet another great group, including trombonist Jack Jenney, trombonist/arranger Ray Conniff, pianist Guarnieri, drummer Dave Tough, saxophonists George Auld and Les Robinson, and trumpeters Lee Castle and Max Kaminsky. Hot Lips Page was also featured with this group on trumpet and vocals, providing an extra kick. Although obviously an excellent group, it only lasted a few months before Shaw again disbanded because of ill health in early 1942.
In spring of that year Shaw enlisted in the navy and was allowed to form a touring band called the Rangers to play for troops overseas. Shaw chose a variety of charts from his earlier bands, and the troops, he later recalled, were familiar with most of the material. The band played all over the Pacific through dangerous war zones, which of course put even more strain on the sensitive Shaw. This eventually resulted in his discharge (the band continued under Donahue's direction).
Upon his return to the U.S., Shaw rested until fall of 1944, when he formed one of his best bands yet. Although, like all of his previous groups, it received great critical acclaim, this band turned out to be Shaw's final great big band.
He sporadically tried keeping up a large ensemble, but the focus of his musical work until his retirement from music in 1954 was recording with small groups. He started working with modern players in 1949, and his last Gramercy Five sessions in 1954 included Hank Jones and Tal Farlow. These recordings demonstrate that Shaw had arrived at a peak of creative power, his language having evolved to represent an eloquent mix of swing and bebop elements. Following these incredible sessions, however, Shaw quit music as an occupation.
The material that Artie Shaw produced was some of the most musically significant of the Swing era, for several reasons. Shaw himself was an awesome musician, both creatively and technically. Though not a "clarinetist's clarinetist" like Benny Goodman, Shaw's playing was on a consistently higher level linearly and harmonically. A telling statement came from the trumpeter Benny Harris: "We listened to Artie Shaw instead of Benny Goodman. Goodman swung, but Shaw was more modern." Shaw's technique was impeccable, as well, and he could execute his ideas throughout the horn's range with a tone that retained its thickness even in the highest register. Of all the big band leaders, Shaw may have been the most musically gifted.
In terms of musicality, Shaw's bands were a reflection of himself. Shaw has said he could only in good conscience produce and release material of artistic value: "If I do what I firmly believe in - what my deepest inner voices tell me is right - then something good will come of it, assuming I have the skill to carry it out. The best records I ever made were the best records I could make... whenever I have made a total effort to please myself, the result has been lasting."
In the end, though, the artistic rewards of the music could not compete with Shaw's distaste for the trappings that inevitably went along with commercial success. He said in 1985, "People ask me, "Do you miss it?" That's like asking a man who had to cut off his right arm because it was gangrenous if he misses it - obviously he does. But he didn't want to die. So I simply had to get out of the music business. And, of course, when a guy gives up several million dollars he has to have compelling reasons. My compelling reason was I wanted to live, not die. It's that simple. I suppose that sounds awfully pat but it's true. I am convinced that if I had stayed in it, I'd be dead by now."
In 1995, Shaw wrote in an autobiographical essay:
"Shaw's own life is the subject of a fine feature-length documentary by a Canadian film-maker. ARTIE SHAW: TIME IS ALL YOUV'E GOT is a painstakingly thorough examination of Shaw as he is today and includes appearances in two earlier motion pictures, DANCING CO-ED (1939) and SECOND CHORUS (1940), as well as the leader of some of his great bands. The film has received glowing reviews wherever it has been shown -- Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Minneapolis, Toronto, Boston, and on Cinemax -- as well as in England, where it ran twice on BBC. It has also appeared at Film Festivals in Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, and Spain (where it took first prize in the documentary category). In 1986 it opened the San Francisco Film Festival, and in 1987 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded it the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature of 1986.""On first meeting Artie Shaw, young Wynton Marsalis remarked, 'This man's got some history.' Shaw is regarded by many as the finest and most innovative of all jazz clarinetists, a leader of some of the greatest musical aggregations ever assembled, and one of the most adventurous and accomplished figures in American music."
"As Artie Shaw goes on into his eighties, he has also developed a crusty humor, as evidenced by an epitaph for himself he wrote for Who's Who in America a few years ago at the request of the editors: "He did the best he could with the material at hand." However, at a recent lecture to the music students of the University of Southern California, when someone mentioned having read it, Shaw said, "Yeah, but I've been thinking it over and I've decided it ought to be shorter, to make it more elegant." And after a brief pause, "I've cut it down to two words: `Go away.'"
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Best Score) 1940: SECOND CHORUS
Nominated for Music Best Song 1940: SECOND CHORUS "Love of My Life" - Music
2 nominations