Artie Shaw

Shaw, Artie, 1910–2004, American clarinetist and bandleader, b. New York City as Arthur Jacob Arshawsky. He began playing professionally as a teenager, becoming a studio musician in New York after 1929. In 1935 he formed his first band, an unusual grouping that included clarinet, string quartet, and rhythm section, which he used in a critically acclaimed performance of his jazz chamber piece Interlude in B Flat.

A year later he established a more orthodox swing band, and with it recorded (1938) his first hit, a sweetly swinging version of Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine” that quickly became a jazz classic. In 1940 he organized a smaller band, the Gramercy Five, which he reformed several times with various combinations of musicians, and from the mid-1940s to the mid-50s he led a number of big bands.

Considered one of swing’s two great clarinetists (the other, his rival Benny Goodman), Shaw was a virtuoso at his instrument. Among his greatest hits were early 40s recordings of “Frenesi,””Stardust,””Moonglow,” and “Dancing in the Dark.” He retired from music in 1954.

Cab Calloway

Calloway, Cab (Cabell Calloway)kal’away, 1907–94, jazz singer and band leader, b. Rochester, N.Y. Known for his inventive creativity, he hired some of the top musicians of his day for his jazz orchestra, including Dizzy Gillespie and Milt Hinton; he also promoted singers Pearl Bailey and Lena Horne. Cab Calloway and his band became famous as a result of radio broadcasts (1931–32) from New York City’s Cotton Club, and were one of the highest earning bands of the 1930s and 40s. His hits included “Minnie the Moocher” (1931) and “Blues in the Night” (1942). He also appeared in several films.

Duke Ellington

Ellington, Duke (Edward Kennedy Ellington), 1899–1974, American jazz musician and composer, b. Washington, D.C. Ellington made his first professional appearance as a jazz pianist in 1916. By 1918 he had formed a band, and after appearances in nightclubs in Harlem he became one of the most famous figures in American jazz. Ellington’s orchestra, playing his own and Billy Strayhorn’s compositions and arrangements, achieved a fine unity of style and made many innovations in the jazz idiom.

Many instrumental virtuosos worked closely with Ellington for long periods of time. Among his best-known short works are Mood Indigo,Solitude, and Sophisticated Lady. He also wrote jazz works of complex orchestration and ambitious scope for concert presentation, notably Creole Rhapsody (1932), Black, Brown and Beige (1943), Liberian Suite (1947), Harlem (1951), and Night Creatures (1955), and composed religious music, including three sacred concerts (1965, 1968, and 1973). Ellington made many tours of Europe, appeared in numerous jazz festivals and several films, and made hundreds of recordings. In 1969 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Jack Teagarden

Born in 1905 in Vernon, Texas, Jack Teagarden was an influential jazz trombonist and singer, regarded as the “Father of Jazz Trombone.” His musical abilities were largely self-taught and for that reason, unrestricted. He developed innovative positions and effects on the instrument, and was known for his bluesy-style. He recorded with Louis Armstrong, among other notable jazz players.

Boyd Raeburn

Boyd Raeburn was never much of a soloist, but his short-lived big bands in the mid-'40s featured some of the most advanced arrangements of the time, particularly those of George Handy.

Raeburn actually started out leading commercial orchestras in the 1930s, and it was not until 1944 that his music became relevant to jazz. That year, he had a forward-looking swing band that included at various times such players as Benny Harris, the Johnny Hodges-influenced Johnny Bothwell, Serge Chaloff, Roy Eldridge, Trummy Young, and Handy on piano, playing arrangements from George Williams, Eddie Finckel, and Handy. The group overall was influenced by Count Basie, but they were also the first to record Dizzy Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia"; Dizzy even guested with the band.

By 1945, Raeburn's music became much more radical with George Handy's charts (which were sometimes influenced by modern classical music) dominating the repertoire. Vocalists David Allyn and Ginnie Powell (Raeburn's wife) cheerfully sang while all types of dissonant events occurred behind them.

Even though it was a constant struggle to keep the orchestra together, Raeburn's band actually grew in size during 1946, with reed players doubling on woodwinds and the addition of French horns and a harp. Such players as Lucky Thompson, Dodo Marmarosa, Ray Linn, and Buddy DeFranco were among the many who passed through the band.

Johnny Richards was the key arranger in 1947, but by the end of the year the band was no longer recording and Raeburn soon went back to performing dance music. His pleasant Columbia records of 1956-1957 are of little interest, but Boyd Raeburn's earlier bands are represented on sessions for Musicraft and Savoy, radio transcriptions put out by Circle, and broadcasts released by IAJRC and Hep.