Artie Shaw Research Paper

Artie Shaw was very well known for his role as a 1930's and 1940's jazz bandleader and clarinetist, was often known as the "King of the Clarinet". Artie Shaw was born as Arthur Jacob Arshawsky on May 23, 1910 in New York City, to Jewish parents. As he progressed through his career, he changed his name to Artie Shaw, because he was embarrassed of his Jewish heritage. Artie Shaw was such a unique personna because he was one of the few outstanding jazz musicians whose commitment to jazz and music was uncertain. Through his childhood, Shaw’s family was not very wealthy, specifically, when his father left the family when Shaw was a freshman in high school. When Shaw discovered his talent in school at the age of 12, first as a saxophonist, then as

He arranged meetings with some musicians he had known in New York for ways into the music industry. These musicians were with Irving Aaronson’s band, and Shaw joined the group the following year. In the group, he learned about the works of Stravinsky and Debussy. The band travelled in Chicago and New York in 1930. Shaw decided to leave the band later that year, and soon became a hit studio session musician and radio performer. He got married and divorced in 1932. After this, he took a short break, but was soon back in New York, and joined a swing contest at the Imperial Theatre, he put together a band and performed his Interlude in B flat. It was so famous that Shaw performed many encores. It was this success that convinced Shaw to form a band, with a string quartet , one trumpet, one saxophone, a rhythm section, and of course, him on the clarinet. In 1937, he re-formed his band along more conventional lines, reworking the pieces of Porter, Rodgers, and Kern. A year later became internationally known through his recording of Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine.” A string of hits followed, and Shaw’s popularity rose to the point where it rivaled that of another very famous clarinetist Benny Goodman, dubbed “The King of the