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The Jazz and Big Band Show

Music: Jazz & Blues: Jazz

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Late night big band, jazz and irresistible sounds.

The Jazz and Big Band Show: Artie Shaw special

Artie Shaw special

BBC Local Radio - The Jazz and Big Band Show, Artie Shaw special

Late night big band, jazz and irresistible sounds.  This week, Paul payes tribute to Artie Shaw.

A note from Paul...

"May 23 is the centenary of the clarinet-playing bandleader Artie Shaw. He died in 2005, aged 94. 

He was the remaining survivor of the great bandleaders of the Swing Era. Think of the likes of Benny Goodman, Harry James, Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. They were real stars, mobbed and sobbed over the way boy bands are nowadays. 

Artie Shaw was so famous that when World War Two broke out Time magazine reported that, for most Germans, the United States meant 'skyscrapers, Clark Gable and Artie Shaw'. 

Shaw was no fan of his fans, referring to them as 'morons', especially when they scratched their phone numbers in the paintwork of his car. He said that as far as female fans were concerned he was merely 'catnip'. 

He was a kind of matrimonial hero, marrying eight times. Among the wives were the screen legends Lana Turner and Ava Gardner. None of the marriages went the distance. "These love goddesses are not what they seem," he said. 

He was disenchanted by the music business too and quit eventually to concentrate on writing, and reading. He learned French so he could read all of Proust, a tough enough job even in translation.

However, when he finally quit the game he left a rich legacy of recordings made with big bands and small groups, hours of great music. 

Somebody to celebrate? I'd say so, and The Late Paul Barnes will be doing it at 23.00 on Saturday, May 22 on the following BBC stations: Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Northampton and 3CR (Beds, Bucks, Herts). And of course it's on the web: www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk live or "listen again"

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