Sunday Drive: Begin the Beguine

Artie Shaw is the best, and this Cole Porter tune made his career in the big band era. It's been a favorite of your Head Trucker's for many years, but this is the first time I've seen this live performance. Enjoy.

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Sunday Drive: All the Things You Are

Just right for a blue-sky Sunday in spring: an exquisite tune, exquisitely performed by Artie Shaw and his Orchestra, with vocals by Helen Forrest.

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The Lessons Appointed for Use on the

Fourth Sunday in Lent

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Sunday Drive: Frenesi

A light and breezy tune for a summer afternoon.  Artie Shaw conducts his orchestra in the 1941 hit:

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Sunday Drive: Begin the Beguine

Cool weather has returned to Texas!  It's only 88 degrees outside!  And 68 inside!  Hooray!

Click to enlarge.

To celebrate, here's one of your Head Trucker's all-time favorites, a breezy tune by Artie Shaw and his Orchestra:

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Sunday Drive: Moonglow

The brilliant sound of Artie Shaw and his orchestra, 1941:

 

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Sunday Drive: All the Things You Are

The other day, I tried to express my thoughts here in the BT about the present age.  But the manifest contrast between the corrupted culture of today and this exquisite piece by Artie Shaw and his orchestra from 80 years ago - which, I realize with a shock, was not all that long before I was born - expresses what I was trying to say so much better than any words of mine can.

Just drink it in, beautiful thoughts in a beautiful form - the sheer loveliness of the music. 

Joy.

Sunday Drive: Deep Purple

The 1939 hit, as performed by Artie Shaw and his Orchestra, featuring Helen Forrest:

Sunday Drive: Begin the Beguine

From 1938, Artie Shaw and his orchestra performing what your Head Trucker thinks is the best big-band tune ever:  Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine":




But what is the beguine? The inimitable Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell may give you a clue in their delightful interpretation from Broadway Melody of 1940:

Sunday Drive: My Blue Heaven

Sunday Drive: Out of Nowhere

Sunday Drive: All the Things You Are

Sunday Drive: Moonglow

That Artie Shaw, he's something.

Sunday Drive: Moonglow

By the great Artie Shaw and his orchestra.

Standard Time: Frenesi

Nothing much worth writing about at the moment, so here's a favorite tune of your Head Trucker's. First, the definitive 1940 recording by the great Artie Shaw and his orchestra:



Which I dearly love. But oh look how a great singer can infuse it with Latin flame, as demonstrated by the beautiful Linda Ronstadt: