Artie Shaw: More Last Recordings - The Final Sessions

1 How High The Moon Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 08:49
2 Stop and Go Mambo Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 05:39
3 I've Got a Crush on You Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 03:56
4 Begin the Beguine Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 03:36
5 The Chaser Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 08:43
6 Stardust Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 05:57
7 Summit Ridge Drive Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 06:11
8 Autumn Leaves (Take 6) Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 03:35
9 Scuttlebutt Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 05:46

Artie Shaw Final Sessions liner notes

Conversing with Artie Shaw -- as Loren Schoenberg and I did in preparation for annotating these further treasures from his last recordings -- is an exhilarating experience. This is because this master of the clarinet excels at making connections. Just as he always knew how to get from one note to the next in such a way that the result was a cohesive statement -- a story, as jazz musicians used to put it -- he knows how to link one idea to another, to make allusions, to place things in context, within a frame of reference that ranges wide and far. Our talk took place several weeks before the death of Helen Hayes, so this anecdote wasn't triggered by her name being in the news. It sheds light on Shaw's decision, shortly after he disbanded this group, to quit music: "She was walking out of the theater, she told me, during the long run of 'Victoria Regina.' The stage doorman, Pop, asked, 'Where are you going, Miss Hayes?' She was all dressed. 'I'm going home,' she answered. 'But you just finished the first act,' Pop told her. That was when she closed the show -- and that's what happened to me. I'd find myself repeating myself, and getting bored. And you're not supposed to play when you're bored.