Artie Shaw was a genius and a very restless man.
He bored easily whether of music or women. He jumped from interest to interest
always seeking knowledge, always reading, always wanting to write rather
than be a musician. But music was what he was best at. It was what brought
in the big bucks that allowed him to lead the life he wanted. He was one
of the great jazz clarinetists in history and one of the top band leaders
during the Swing Era. But he always wanted more - so he studied classical
music and performed it at Carnegie Hall, brought strings into his orchestra,
hired Billie Holliday to sing for the band when that was unthinkable. And
he quit and broke up his bands constantly - took time off and came back trying
something new. He hated being a celebrity and yet among his eight wives there
were Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and Evelyn Keyes.
This documentary is I guess far from objective since most of it rides along
with his own reminisces about his life. He tends to put a positive spin on
things from his music to his marriages. He was Jewish but brought up in a
non-Jewish neighborhood and was constantly made fun of. He discovered music
as his friend and studied on his own 8 hours a day. He went to audition for
a local band at 15 and they said sure - can you read music - no, but give
me a month and I will. He spent years in bands honing his skills and then
years leading a band not really getting anywhere. Just one of hundreds of
dance bands. At one concert in 1938 he played an arrangement he had made
of Begin the Beguine and the audience went crazy. He had no idea why until
he learned that his recording of it had been released and was a huge hit.
It made him a star for the rest of the 30's and 40s'. And for the most part
he hated it.
With WWII he joined the Navy and put together a band and toured the South
Pacific for 2 years. After the war he went back to music but began to focus
on his studio recordings - making them as perfect as he could. In 1953 he
was forced to testify in front of the House of Un-American Committee for
his leftist sentiments. He was so sickened by this that he went to live in
Europe and lived in Spain for years till he came back. He never played again
though in 1983 he put together a band and just led it. At one time he was
scored as the fourth best marksman in the country, one of the top fly-fishermen
in the country. Just one of those people who committed themselves to being
the best in whatever they tried. He died in 2004. A very enjoyable documentary
if the subject interests you. Lots of clips of him playing, of other people
commenting. I get the impression that he was not an easy man to be friends
with. Too much of a perfectionist. A couple of his wives accused him of mental
cruelty. He says I can't tell you a thing about marriage but I am an expert
on divorce.
