Biography
Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, 23 May 1910, East Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, d. 30 December 2004, Newbury Park, California, USA. The son of an Austrian mother and a Russian father, Arshawsky was born in New York but relocated with his family to New Haven, Connecticut while still a child. He learned to play the ukulele before taking up the alto saxophone at the age of 12, and a few years later was playing in a Connecticut dance band. In 1926, and now known as Art Shaw, he switched to clarinet and spent the next three years working in Cleveland, Ohio, as arranger and musical director for Austin Wylie. He also played in Hollywood with Irving Aaronson’s Commanders, doubling on tenor saxophone. In New York from the end of 1929, Shaw became a regular at after-hours sessions, sitting in with leading jazzmen and establishing a reputation as a technically brilliant clarinettist. He made numerous record sessions with dance bands and jazz musicians including Teddy...
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