[Dixielandjazz] New thread--Artie Shaw's Achievement Award from Smithsonian

[Norman Vickers]

Of interest, I hope, to this group:  Artie Shaws achievement award from
Smithsonian.

I thought he had his clarinet made into a lamp stand.  Then again, he
probably had more than one clarinet around the house!

Norman Vickers
Pensacola



Jazz Bandleader Receives Achievement Award

.c The Associated Press

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) - Swing jazz bandleader Artie Shaw traded two of
his clarinets with the Smithsonian Institution for a lifetime achievement
award.

Shaw's clarinets, including one he used to play the Cole Porter hit ``Begin
the Beguine,'' will be on display in April at the Museum of American
History in Washington, alongside other jazz treasures including Dizzy
Gillespie's angled trumpet and Ella Fitzgerald's red dress.

In a ceremony on Thursday, the 93-year-old Shaw handed over the instruments
and accepted the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal for lifelong
``contributions to American culture and music.''

The medal inscription praises Shaw's ``superb technical ability and keen
musical intelligence'' and calls him ``a vigorous spokesman for racial
equality in jazz.''

John Hasse, the Smithsonian museum's American music curator, called Shaw
``one of the giants of jazz, a singular man of extraordinary intellect and
a legendary and great American.''

Shaw, who had resisted parting with the clarinets, called the award a
``significant honor.''

``But this is kind of the crowning thing because I don't know how much
longer I'm going to be around,'' he said.

Born in New York City and raised in New Haven, Conn., Shaw took up alto
saxophone at 13 and began playing music professionally two years later. He
switched to clarinet later, arranging and performing on popular tunes
including ``Frenesi,'' ``Concerto for Clarinet'' and Hoagy Carmichael's
``Stardust.''

Shaw, who retired from music in 1954 to write books, said it wasn't easy to
donate the clarinets.

``They were a big part of my life for years,'' he said. ``It's like parting
with an old and valued friend. But I can't think of anything else that's
better to do with them.''

On the Net:

http://www.artieshaw.com

http://www.smithsonianjazz.org

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