Artie Shaw was famous for his many wives!

One of the top ten bands of the Big Band Era was clearly led by Artie Shaw. Artie, of course, is remembered for his fabulous music...."Stardust" and Begin The Beguine" are two of the greatest big band recordings of all time. At a recent lecture I gave on the Big Band Era, many in the audience were also very impressed with an important side of Artie's personal life, the fact that he was married eight times and the fame of his brides.

They included actresses Lana Turner (wife No. 3, 1940), Ava Gardner (No. 5, 1945), Evelyn Keyes (No. 8, 1957) and novelist Kathleen Winsor, author of the 1944 best-seller “Forever Amber” (No. 6, 1946).

Lana Turner and Artie Shaw

Here's the complete list (from Wiki); A self-proclaimed "very difficult man," Shaw was married eight times: Jane Cairns (1932–33; annulled); Margaret Allen (1934–37; divorced); actress Lana Turner (1940; annulled); Betty Kern (1942–43; divorced), the daughter of songwriter Jerome Kern; actress Ava Gardner (1945–46; divorced); Forever Amber author Kathleen Winsor (1946–48; annulled); actress Doris Dowling (1952–56; divorced); and actress Evelyn Keyes(1957–85; divorced).

He had one son, Steven Kern, with Betty Kern, and another son, Jonathan Shaw (a well-known tattoo artist who founded Fun City Tattoo), with Doris Dowling.The marriage to Keyes, best known for playing the middle of the three O’Hara sisters in “Gone With the Wind,” lasted the longest, until 1985, but they led separate lives for much of that time. “I like her very much and she likes me, but we’ve found it about impossible to live together,” he said in a 1973 interview.

Ava and Lana

Both Lana Turner and Ava Gardner later described Shaw as being extremely emotionally abusive. His controlling nature and incessant verbal abuse in fact drove Turner to have a nervous breakdown, soon after which she divorced him.

Note: With that many ex-wives, collecting alimony in most cases, it is not surprising that his theme song was "Nightmare!" When asked why he married so many times....his answer..."Because they asked me!"

Swing-Best of the Big Bands video

Frank Sinatra born December 12, 1915

Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra found unprecedented success as a solo artist from the early to mid-1940s after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the "bobby soxers", he released his first album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra in 1946. His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1953 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity.

He signed with Capitol Records in 1953 and released several critically lauded albums (such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice 'n' Easy). Sinatra left Capitol to found his own record label, Reprise Records in 1961 (finding success with albums such as Ring-a-Ding-Ding!, Sinatra at the Sandsand Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim), toured internationally, was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and statesmen, including John F. Kennedy. Sinatra turned 50 in 1965, recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with "Strangers in the Night" and "My Way".

With sales of his music dwindling and after appearing in several poorly received films, Sinatra retired for the first time in 1971. Two years later, however, he came out of retirement and in 1973 recorded several albums, scoring a Top 40 hit with "(Theme From) New York, New York" in 1980. Using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally, until a short time before his death in 1998.

Sinatra also forged a highly successful career as a film actor, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity, a nomination forBest Actor for The Man with the Golden Arm, and critical acclaim for his performance in The Manchurian Candidate. He also starred in such musicals as High Society, Pal Joey,Guys and Dolls and On the Town. Sinatra was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

'It Had To Be You' from the Great American Songbook

"It Had to Be You" is a popular song written by Isham Jones, with lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was first published in 1924.

Why do I do, just as you say, why must I just, give you your way 
Why do I sigh, why don't I try - to forget 
It must have been, that something lovers call fate 
Kept me saying: "I have to wait" 
I saw them all, just couldn't fall - 'til we met 
It had to be you, it had to be you 
I wandered around, and finally found - the somebody who 
Could make me be true, and could make me be blue 
And even be glad, just to be sad - thinking of you 
Some others I've seen, might never be mean 
Might never be cross, or try to be boss, but they wouldn't do 
For nobody else, gave me a thrill - with all your faults, I love you still 
It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you

Meet Laura Ainsworth

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL ON LAURA AINSWORTH’S STELLAR DEBUT CD

Texas-based singer Laura Ainsworth is back in the studio this month with her partner, producer/arranger/pianist/Dallas Jazz Musician of the Year Brian Piper, recording “Necessary Evil,” the follow-up to her critically-acclaimed debut, “Keep It To Yourself.” To celebrate her sophomore album, Eclectus Records is offering a special holiday discount price on her debut CD of only $7.97, or $9.99 for the download, at CDBaby.com. The daughter of the late, legendary big band saxophonist/clarinetist/arranger Billy Ainsworth, who was playing with Tommy Dorsey behind Frank Sinatra at age 17, Laura grew up watching her dad back such jazz royalty as Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Mel Torme.  The Great American Songbook is in her blood.  On “Keep It To Yourself,” she breathes new life into both standards and obscurities, from “Midnight Sun” to “He’s So Unusual,” while putting a classic, retro jazz spin on newer songs, such as the darkly hilarious title track and Marshall Crenshaw’s rocker, “Fantastic Planet of Love,” reimagined as a space-age lounge jazz battle between Piper’s ultra-cool electric organ runs and Noel Johnston’s out-of-this-world electric guitar. With backing from such stellar sidemen as bassist John Adams, percussionist Mike Drake and sax/clarinet virtuoso Chris McGuire, plus special guests, guitarist Chris Derose and violinist Milo Deering of the hot fusion band Beatlegras, “Keep It To Yourself” came out of nowhere to score worldwide airplay and stellar reviews: "You can keep all those pop divas.  The only one for me is Laura Ainsworth...Ainsworth has beauty, brains, sophistication and comic timing that make her a total performance package...A wonderful modern interpreter of the Great American Songbook as well as thoroughly modern styles." -- Eric Harabadian, Jazz Inside "Ainsworth’s voice is sublime as it caresses top-notch musicianship by a slew of southwest jazz players...It’s a very warm, elegant album with just enough big stage flair."-- Mario Tarradell, Dallas Morning News "…Weaves past and present with stunning power…It might not be long before Dallas is not just known for its oil, Cowboys, and J.R. Ewing but a funny lady with a jewel of a voice..." -- Robert Sutton, JazzCorner.com "Singing in a satiny, impossibly old-fashioned, nearly three-octave voice, Ainsworth is the very portrait of West Coast cool…”  Her update of Skylark is “the transcendent moment every singer hopes for when they dig out one of those dusty, decades-old favorites…The results are devastatingly beautiful, nakedly honest, and a powerful argument for the ageless compositions that Ainsworth so clearly treasures...” -- Nick DeRiso, SomethingElseReviews.com “A spectacular CD...Takes the ambiance of the '40's and '50's supper clubs/bands and elegantly mingles that feel with modern day flair." – RadioIndy.com Look for Laura Ainsworth’s new CD, “Necessary Evil,” coming in mid-2013.  And stock up on the ultimate romantic stocking stuffer, her debut CD, “Keep It To Yourself,” just $7.97 through December at CDBaby.com. LINK: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lauraainsworth2

Ann Hampton Callaway keeps alive the Great American Songbook with NJSO

Singer/songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway joins the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for the pops program Holidays with the NJSO on Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 3 p.m. at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Cincinnati Pops conductor John Morris Russell, who last led the NJSO in a classical program in March 2012, conducts the holiday program, which also features the Masterwork Chorus. This performance is presented by State Theatre and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Tickets range from $20-88.

Callaway, a prolific cabaret performer and songwriter well-known to Broadway audiences, takes center stage for a concert of holiday and pops classics. She brings her trademark holiday improvisation and her interpretations of songs including “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “Carol of the Bells”—these performances with full orchestra bring out a special dimension in her lush, rich vocals.

The program will feature the Masterwork Chorus in holiday favorites including the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah, “Deck the Halls” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” The NJSO also performs Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Dance of the Tumblers” and more.