Artie Shaw & His Gramercy 5

Artie Shaw was one of the great names of the Big Band era. He was a band leader as well as a clarinetist. But what a lot of people don’t know about Artie Shaw is that, like Benny Goodman, he also had a small ensemble of musicians he played and recorded with. What he and Goodman called “a band within a band.” Artie on clarinet, pianist Johnny Guarnieri, Al Hendrickson on electric guitar, and trumpeter Billy Butterfield who was succeeded by Roy Eldridge. Unusual for jazz music, a number of the compositions include harpsichord, played by Johnny Guarnieri. So let’s swing with Artie and his bandmates.

My Blue Heaven

The Sad Sack

The Grabtown Grapple

Five for Listening: Celebrating Robert Burns & the Scots

Next Wednesday’s Robert Burns Day. Here’s a few for the great poet and his homeland.

Ca’ the Yowes

The Slave’s Lament

Ye Banks and Braes by Holly Tomas

My Love is Like a Red, Rose by Eva Cassidy

Scots Wha’ Hae by Dougie Maclean

Five for Friday: The Many Moods of Winter

Gloomy Winter’s Noo Away by Dougie  Maclean

The Original Frosty the Snowman

Footprints in the Snow by Emerson Lake & Palmer

Song for a Winter’s Night by Gordon Lightfoot

Five for Friday: Billie Holiday

This one is dedicated to Lady Day, one of the greatest female singers of the twentieth century.

Strange Fruit

God Bless the Child

The Blues Are Brewin’ featuring Louis Armstrong

Stormy Blues

Willow Weep for Me