My Blue Heaven
LP RCA Victor LPT-6000
As a person, Artie Shaw survived all of his competitors in the big band business, and at the end, he was rather critical of them, especially when it came to their choice of repertoire. But in a spoken interview that introduces the album, he is very proud of his own band and the men in it.
He had reason to be, as it appears here, very well recorded, playing live in front of an enthusiastic crowd. The year is 1939.
There are many good moments on the double LP with plenty of solo spots, as best by the band leader himself, and it’s nice to hear them perform standard tunes like this one. The arrangement was made by Eddie Durham, and the solos beside Artie’s are by Bernie Privin, trumpet, and Georgie Auld on tenor sax.