Quite a few years ago I read Artie Shaw's autobiography, The Trouble with Cinderella, and was impressed by his intelligence and candor. Recently Youtube decided I'd be interested in an excellent Canadian documentary about Shaw, Time is All You've Got, showing many movies of his performances and in which he is interviewed. He is strikingly articulate and quite open, projecting a genial personality that conceals an extremely difficult character.
Several times in the interviews he says that it takes a good band (and he had very good bands) a month to master an arrangement (he was a perfectionist), making me realize how poorly the groups I've played with have prepared for performances.
He was clearly the musical equal of Benny Goodman, but somehow people don't remember him so well.
