Artie Shaw was born in New York City on May 23, 1910 and was in the top echelon of bandleader/soloists from the great swing era of 1935-45. He made his first public appearance as a leader in 1936, in a Swing Concert (history’s first) held at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre. Shaw could scarcely have known that within a short time he would make a hit record of a song called “Begin the Beguine,” which he once jokingly refers to as “a nice little tune from one of Cole Porter’s very few flop shows.”
Shortly before that he had hired Billie Holiday as his band vocalist (the first white bandleader to employ a black female singer as a full-time member of his band). The break-through hit record catapulted him into the ranks of top bandleaders and he was immediately dubbed the new “King of Swing.” Today, Shaw’s recording of “Begin the Beguine” sells thousands and has become one of the best-selling records in history.
In 1954 Artie Shaw made his last public appearance as an instrumentalist when he put together a new Gramercy 5 made up of such superb modern musicians as pianist Hank Jones, guitarist Tal Farlow, bassist Tommy Potter, et al. He gave his blessing in the 1980s to an Artie Shaw Orchestra led by Dick Johnson.
The Artie Shaw Orchestra was looking for a clarinet player in 2009 to front the band. Matt Koza, who was then playing tenor saxophone with the orchestra, directed by Dick Johnson, received a call from orchestra manager Bill Curtis, to assume the position and has been the featured artist ever since.
With the passing of former director and clarinetist Dick Johnson, Matt Koza took the lead and the legendary music of Artie Shaw lives on.
Stardust, followed by Temptation, played by the Artie Shaw Orchestra featuring Matthew Koza, on 2-26-11 at Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ. Bryan Davis plays the trumpet solo and Doug Elliott plays the trombone solo in Stardust.
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