NRR Project: Artie Shaw plays 'Begin the Beguine' (1938)

 

NRR Project: ‘Begin the Beguine’

Written by Cole Porter

Performed by Artie Shaw and his Orchestra

Recorded July 24, 1938

3:14

“Begin the Beguine” was the tune that made Artie Shaw’s career. He hated it.

“’Begin the Beguine’ is a pretty nice tune. But not when you have to play it 500 times in a row,” he said.

The great songwriter Cole Porter wrote it while on a cruise ship in the Pacific. (The beguine is a Latin dance somewhat like a slow rumba.) It premiered in October 1935, in the musical Jubilee. It achieved minor notice at the time, and was covered by Xavier Cugat and his orchestra in its original rhythm.

But when Shaw selected the song for his own orchestra, he and arranger Jerry Gray decided to swing it in 4/4 time. The tune was not thought to be a winner; it was released on the B side of a record featuring “Indian Love Call” on the other side.

Its success was undeniable. Above the solid rendition of the melody in the horns, Shaw’s clarinet soars gracefully above it. It’s upbeat and catchy as hell, and the nation went nuts over it. It became the top-selling recording of 1938. The song made Shaw and his band famous, opening the door for them. Soon Shaw was all over the radio, and headlining sold-out concerts around the country.

However, Shaw was not pleased. He was unique in that he continually tried to stretch the boundaries of what was possible musically. Unlike other musical geniuses such as Duke Ellington, Shaw was extremely difficult to deal with. He was not content to simply play popular dance music, forming and re-forming units of musicians in order to work out his ideas.

"I don't attempt to ram hackneyed, insipid tunes down the public's throat,” he wrote, “just because they've been artificially hypoed to the so-called 'hit' class. This policy of trying to maintain some vestige of musical integrity has, naturally, earned me enemies, people who think I'm a longhair, impressed with my own ability. Nothing could be farther from the truth. My faith in dance music — I refuse to call it swing — borders on the fanatic. I have the utmost respect for the many real musicians who are creating a new music as important as the classics . . .”

For instance, in 1935 he created “Interlude in B-flat,” which featured just him, a rhythm section, and a string quartet. In 1940 he formed the Gramercy Five, which included a harpsichord and an electric guitar. He would cut a few sides with a given ensemble, then disbanded, moving on to the formation of yet another group. (He ran through eight wives as well.)

He had a great ear for talent. Among his hires were drummer Buddy Rich, singer Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Mel Torme, Ray Coniff. With them, he continued to hammer at the idea of making jazz more than just popular fodder. It helped that Shaw was (in my opinion) the greatest clarinetist of the era, looser in approach than Benny Goodman and more robust than Sidney Bechet. He has a beautiful tone, and is an endlessly inventive improviser.

After a tour in 1954, Shaw put down his instrument for decades, citing his insatiable perfectionism as a cause. In fact, it was this and his emotional abusiveness that doomed his marriages and his music-making. He moved on to other concerns; he wrote an excellent autobiography, The Trouble with Cinderella.

Eventually, in his 70s he returned to the instrument and played a bit here and there. He was still a lyrical performer, decades after his first big success.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: the Andrew Sisters sing ‘Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen’.