Shellac Shanty

As promised, here it be! At least the first disc of the live stuff... RCA Released this some time in the late 50s or early 60s, in a 2-LP box set, with a nice little booklet of liner notes. The notes takes the reader through Artie's rise and hey-dey, all the way to when he got tired of the limitations of swing (to him) and just didn't show up one night. That spelled the end of the outfit, effectively, but Artie did do some projects after that fateful night in the Cafe' Rouge...

These cuts show that Artie's outfit COULD swing, and swing hard. There's a couple of early Buddy Rich efforts in here (you can hear him pushing the band, both on the traps and with his verbal coaching) that show just how brilliant he was going to be in the future. Tony Pastor gets his chops in as well, both on vocals and on a solo on tenor.

Here it is, then... Artie in the Blue Room

AND!!! Since I got on the stick and it is still Thursday, I went ahead and did up the other LP for your pleasure. This one has recordings from a little later on in Artie's career, right before he decided to vamanos a Mexico and leave the band to Tony Pastor. This band swung harder than the Blue Room band did, and I'm of the opinion that it was due mainly to one individual, kicking the band hard from the traps... one Mr. Buddy Rich. It's a case of one person making all the difference in an organization, bring that certain 'spark' that lights the inspiration of the rest of the outfit. Buddy had a way of doing that, all the way to his going to the next life.

As an aside, I was in Chuy's in Tempe, Arizona years ago, and could have SWORN I saw Buddy's ghost. He played there a lot in the early 80s, and I had the pleasure of seeing him live there several times. I also got to see him in the Portland, Oregon area in the late 70s as well.

One of my favorite episodes of Johnny Carson was when Artie and Buddy came on... they spent the entire 90 minutes reminiscing about "the days", and it was some of the most compelling television ever. I wish I had a copy of that program...

Anyways, enough drivel, enjoy Artie in the Cafe' Rouge.

Stil no luck on getting Vol. 2 of the Benny Goodman airchecks, I went to the thrift store where I got volumes 1 & 3 (and this Artie Shaw set), and..... nada. Maybe some day the Gods of Shellac Archiving will bless me with volume 2.

Sigh...