The Artie Shaw centennial (May 23) is here and the tributes are coming in fast and furious. Justifiably so. Arguably the finest jazz clarinet of his generation, and certainly mine, Artie was also such an enigmatic person that even without the music he would have made his mark.
The Trouble With Cinderella is one of the classic autobiography's - not least because Artie wrote it without a co-writer and, despite being married to several Screen Goddesses, didn't 'dish the dirt like the rest of those broads' did.
Musically, did any big band have a more evocative theme than Nightmare? Did the road ever become better illustrated musically than on Traffic Jam? Was their ever a better and more original band within a band than the Gramercy Five?
On a personal level, I can still recall the thrill I got x years ago when I stumbled across What Is This Thing Called Love on a '78' in a junk shop.
On one 10" piece of shellac I discovered Artie Shaw, Mel Tormé, the Meltones - I think I paid a tanner (six old pence).
Sale of the century!
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