To say that Artie Shaw (1910-2004) was a unique individual would be an understatement. A perfectionist who mastered the clarinet, Shaw treated his musicians well but was quite difficult to live with, as his eight wives would attest! An intellectual who personality-wise was a bit out of place during the Swing era, he was full of contradictions. While Shaw consistently ran away from public acclaim (which found him anyway) and he talked regularly about art for art’s sake, he also enjoyed being the center of attention.
Yet despite his fame and the lucrative nature of his career, he was active in music for less than three decades. Shaw permanently gave up playing the clarinet late in 1954 when he was only 44 because he felt that he had nothing left to say, and also because he was a bit dismayed at the lack of acclaim he received with the final version of the Gramercy Five. Shaw spent his last half-century engaging in various pursuits including trying to be an author while he was regularly questioned about why he had stopped playing music.
Barnett Singer, who wrote the bulk of Icon of Swing while valuable insights were supplied by Jesse Read, has long been a big Artie Shaw fan, particularly loving his orchestra of 1938-39. Around 1977, he summoned up the courage to phone his idol. To his surprise, Shaw was willing to talk and for the next seven years they chatted on the phone on a monthly basis. While he did not record the conversations, Singer remembers much of what Shaw said and the clarinetist’s opinions and thoughts are a strong asset in this new book.
Icon of Swing is not a definitive biography of Artie Shaw and the authors do not claim that it covers everything about him. The closest book to fully covering Shaw’s life is Vladimir Simosko’s Artie Shaw: A Musical Biography and Discography. However Icon of Swing adds to what is known about Shaw.
The most rewarding parts of the book are actually the lengthy introduction (which includes the story of Artie Shaw’s first orchestra) and the final chapter (“The Long Coda”) which discusses Shaw’s post-music activities, Singer’s own life, his love of Shaw’s music, and his interaction with the clarinetist during the latter’s later years. A lot of new information is included.
Artie Shaw, who was always restless, led six orchestras during his career, a number that topped any other swing era bandleader. Barnett Singer does not think too highly of the 1937 group (an innovative small big band that included strings), the 1941-42 orchestra that included Hot Lips Page (feeling that it was an unsuccessful mixture of jazz and classical music that often sounded like a soundtrack), or his short-lived 1949 bop-oriented group. While it is true that all three of those big bands were not around long enough to realize their potential, they each had their great moments (particularly the first one). Singer does his best to be even-handed but clearly his heart lies with the other three Shaw orchestras.
While there is some discussion of Shaw’s private life during these periods (Singer’s gushing about Ava Gardner gets a bit embarrassing after a while), much of the book consists of his description and analysis of Shaw’s recordings. He puts forward a solid case for the 1938-39 big band (Shaw’s most popular outfit) as containing many of the highpoints of his career. He also sees merit in the magnificent string orchestra of 1940, and he argues successfully for the significance and high-quality music played by Shaw’s underrated big band of late-1944 through 1945. While he has strong opinions, Singer also includes Reed’s thoughts (which sometimes differ) and that of a female friend.
On the minus side, Singer constantly compares Artie Shaw very favorably to Benny Goodman, unnecessarily making the mistake of trying to uplift his hero by putting down his competitor. No one writing about jazz should ever do that, particularly when it is not that relevant to the story. Another quibble is that the authors regularly mention that a selection is available on You Tube rather than recommending specific CDs. Nearly all of Artie Shaw’s recordings as a leader are readily available on legitimate releases and should be acquired that way. But overall, Icon of Swing should be of strong interest to anyone wanting to get into the recordings of Artie Shaw. Much of the analysis of Shaw’s performances is quite accurate and the sincerity of Barnett Singer’s love for Artie Shaw’s music shines through.
Icon of Swing is available from mcfarlandbooks.com and amazon.com.
Artie Shaw: Icon of Swing
by Barnett Singer and Jesse Read
Softcover, 201 pages; $39.95
ISBN: 978-1-4766-8970-8
McFarland & Company
www.mcfarlandbooks.com
