Artie Shaw: The Complete Gramercy Five Sessions

Many of the big-band leaders of the swing era featured a small group from within the band, a throwback to their own origins in "hot" jazz. Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five, though, was an exceptional combo, as distinctive in its way as Benny Goodman's trio, quartet, and sextet. While the purpose of such bands was blowing, something Shaw did brilliantly, the clarinetist also used the opportunity for striking instrumentation.

The first eight tracks come from 1940 and the first version of the group. Trumpeter Billy Butterfield adds assorted mutes to vary his glorious open trumpet sound, while pianist Johnny Guarnieri turns exclusively to harpsichord. As with Shaw's unusual use of a string quartet in 1936, the inclusion of harpsichord is genuine innovation, not just novelty, and it becomes even more striking when Shaw adds electric guitarist Al Hendrickson. The result is classic small-band swing that can't be readily placed in time.

The final seven tracks come from 1945, including two takes of "Mysterioso" --a harmonically advanced Shaw composition, not the Monk tune. Shaw was always a kind of proto-modernist, and here the band includes the explosive swing trumpeter Roy Eldridge and two young boppers, pianist Dodo Marmarosa and guitarist Barney Kessel. --Stuart Broomer