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26/02/2004 Artie Shaw - clarinet virtuoso and world-class freethinker - uncovered
Artie Shaw, clarinet virtuoso, innovative band leader, and world-class freethinker, was unusual in winning sustained critical acclaim and immense popular success. He reserved his place in American musical history over 60 years ago, with hit tunes like Begin the Beguine, and Stardust. Permanently dissatisfied with his work (as all artists should be), Shaw experimented with fusing jazz and classical music, as well as turning away from big bands by experimenting with small chamber jazz ensembles. Among his many other claims to fame are his controversial early employment of Billie Holiday, a black singer in a white band, and his rejection as a vocalist of a young Frank Sinatra. But his fiercely independent spirit led him to rebel against celebrity and the show biz lifestyle (though it didn't stop him marrying eight times; his wives included Ava Gardner and Lana Turner). He threw it all away by retiring in his early forties, following a hounding by Richard Nixon's House UnAmerican Activities Committee and subsequent difficulties with the IRS. His early retirement was widely bemoaned - many regarded him to be on the verge of greatness in the early 1950s; they considered that his pre-eminence, alongside Benny Goodman, the other leading white big bandleader/clarinet player of the swing era, had been merely a taste of things to come. Artie Shaw - Quest for Perfection, an affectionate portrait by Russell Davies, shown on BBC2 last night, revealed its subject as a searingly intelligent, endlessly questioning, take-no-bulldust personality. Following his early retirement from the clarinet, he has excelled as a successful broadcaster and writer, among other varied careers, and is still brightly dishing it in his early 90s. He has a long-gestating novel which is tipped to be a masterwork - if Shaw manages to finish it in time. This engaging portrait was originally broadcast last year on BBC4, the new digital terrestrial TV channel which is second only to the digital satellite Performance channel as the preferred station of Music for Grown-Ups.
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