Artie Shaw....Four Star Favourites.

Some great big band sounds now !!

Four Star Favourites is a compilation album of phonograph records released in 1941 by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra on Victor Records, containing studio recordings by his second, third and fourth orchestras.

During the 1930s and 40s, Shaw's orchestras recorded two main styles of music inside of the jazz genre, danceable pop music following conventions of the time (swing) and a more sophisticated blend of classical music and jazz, aided with a string section (orchestral jazz or early third stream). These styles opposed each other, and during his career Shaw's attempts to make art music oftentimes failed because it wasn't commercially viable.

Bridging the divide in Shaw's catalogue, the compilation appealed to audiences of both swing music and more progressive forms of jazz. Well-reviewed upon release, the album stayed in-print for over a decade.

These reissued songs were featured on a 4-disc, 78 rpm album set, Victor P-85.

1. Frenesi....., recorded March 3, 1940.

2. Begin The Beguine.....,recorded July 24, 1938.

3. Star Dust...., recorded October 7, 1940.

4. Back Bay Shuffle...., recorded July 24, 1938.

1. Dancing In The Dark....., recorded January 23, 1941.

2. Traffic Jam..., recorded June 12, 1939.

3. Moonglow....., recorded January 23, 1941.

4. Serenade To A Savage....., recorded June 22, 1939.

Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction.

Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led one of the United States' most popular big bands in the late 1930s through the early 1940s. Though he had numerous hit records, he was perhaps best known for his 1938 recording of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine." Before the release of "Beguine," Shaw and his fledgling band had languished in relative obscurity for over two years and, after its release, he became a major pop artist within short order. The record eventually became one of the era's defining recordings.

     6. Traffic Jam