Artie Shaw and His Orchestra

Artie Shaw started his first swing band in 1936. He formed and dissolved groups several times throughout the 30s and 40s, his last organisation being a short-lived band playing bop-style jazz in 1949. His best-known orchestra enjoyed a lengthy residency at the Blue Room of the Hotel Lincoln on New York's Eighth Avenue. A member of ASCAP from 1942, Shaw had recording contracts with Brunswick, Buebird, Victor and Musicraft. His theme song was "Nightmare". His hit songs have included "Moon-ray", "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise", "Begin the Beguine", "Carioca", "Back Bay Shuffle", "Frenesi", "Any Old Time", "Deep Purple", "Traffic Jam", "Non Stop Flight", "One Foot in the Groove", "Everything's Jumpin'","Concerto For Clarinet" and "Summit Ridge Drive." The following (which reads like a 'who's who' of the big bands !) is a reasonably complete line-up of the significant personnel who made up the various incarnations of the Artie Shaw orchestra...

Vocalists: Billie Holiday, Helen Forrest, Kitty Kallen, Peg La Centra, Bea Wain, Anita Bradley, Lena Horne, Pauline Byrne, Ann Sothern, Bonnie Lake, Dolores O'Neil, Georgia Gibbs, Mel Torme, Tony Pastor, Lillian Lane and Oran Hot Lips Page.

Sidemen: Georgie Auld (s/cl), Ray Conniff (a), Billy Butterfield (tp), Dodo Marmarosa (p), Zeke Zarchy (tp), Lee Castle (tp), Jerry Gray (a/v), Mike Michaels (tb), Ben Plotkin (v), Tony 'Faso' Fasulo (tp), George Arus (tb), Russell Brown (tb), Paul Cohen (tp), Roy Eldridge (tp), Sam Persoff (v), Jimmie Oderich (cl), Shep Shepherd (d), Randell Miller (tb), Joe Lipman (a/tp), Gene Stultz (g), Louis Fromm (d), Spencer Prinz (d), Carl Maus (d), Barney Kessel (g), Ben Ginsberg (sb), Sammy Weiss (d), Tony Gottuso (g), George Wettling (d), Jack De Naut (b), Ed McKinney (cello), Morris Rayman (cl), Buddy Morrow (tb), Johnny Best (tp), Tom Di Carlo (tp), Malcolm Crain (tp), Harry Rodgers (a/tb), Billy Taylor (cl), Fred Zimmerman (b), Les Robinson (s), Ron Perry (s), Fred Petry (ts) Les Burness (p), George Schwartz (d), Steve Lipkins (tp), Charles Coolidge (tb), J.C. Higginbotham (tb), Sonny White (p), Mike Bryan (g), Jimmy Shirley (g), Al Avola (p), Cliff Leeman (d), Pat McNaughton (tb), Bob Swift (tb), Hank Freeman (s), Chuck Peterson (tp), Claude Bowen (tp), Ted Vesely (tb), Oliver Wilson (tb), Morey Samuel (tb), Bernie Privin (tp), Les Jenkins (tb), Bob Kitsis (p), Buddy Rich (d), Dave Barbour (g), Irv Kluger (d), Max Kaminsky (tp), Charlie Margulis (tb), Manny Klein (tb), Joe Krechter (cl), Mark Levant (v), Frank Beach, Sid Weiss (b), Harry Geller (tp), Bob Sherwood (g), Davey Tough (d), Conrad Gozzo (tp), Bernie Glow (tp), Lyle Bowen (s), George Thow (tp), Randy Miller (tb), Bill Rank (tb), Babe Bowman (tb), Blake Reynolds (as), Dick Clark (ts), , Bud Carleton (s), Jack Stacey (as), Mort Ruderman (fl), Harry Bluestone (v), Peter Eisenberg (v), Sid Brokaw (v), David Cracoy (v), Alex Law (v), Charles DiMaggio (s), Mickey Folus (ts), Art Baker (s), Lester Clarke (s), Chuck Gentry (s), Jerry Joyce (v), Stan Spiegelman (v), Jack Gray (viola), Irving Lipschultz (cello), Stan Wrightsman (p), Happy Lawson (ts), Lyle 'Skitch' Henderson (p), Ben Kantor (as), George Koenig (as), Herb Steward (cl), John Walton (ts), Rudolph Tanza (s), Jack Cathcart tp), Louis Prisby (as), Jack Jenney (tb), Vernon Brown (tb), Jerry Jerome (ts), Johnny Guarnieri (p), Al Hendrickson (h), Nick Fatool (d), Neely Plumb (as), George Wendt (tp), Buss Bassey (s), Claude Thornhill (p), Gene DiNovi (p), Danny Bank (s), Don Raffell (s), Allen Reuss (g), Chano Pozo (perc), Gil Barrios (p), Milt Raskin (p), Babe Russin (s), Herbie Haymer (s), Skeets Herfurt (s), Zoot Sims (s), Bart Varsalona (tb), Bill Schaefer (tb), Don Fagerquist (tp) and Si Zentner (tb).