A few years before Artie Shaw returned from a hiatus in Mexico to launch his Frenesi big band in 1940, he fronted a group in 1937 and '38 called the Rhythm-Makers. The band was sub-billed as Art Shaw and His New Music. This is the band that Shaw fronted to record Any Old Time with Billie Holiday.
The early Shaw-led band was a mixed bag, but one of the best recording sessions by this fox-trot ensemble came on October 17, 1937, when it recorded for the NBC Thesaurus transcription service in New York. Thesaurus provided stations with discs of around 17 inches that held upward of 20 songs at roughly 3 minutes each, lasting an hour. A sponsor typically picked up the tab of its broadcast. Transcription discs eliminated the need by stations to change 78s, and the large discs were approved by the musicians union.
Shaw's Rhythm-Makers in October 1937 consisted of Chuck Peterson, Tommy DiCarlo and Malcolm Crain (tp); George Arus and Harry Rogers (tb); Artie Shaw (cl); Les Robinson and Hank Freeman (as); Tony Pastor and Jules Rubin (ts); Les Burness (p); Al Avola (g); Ben Ginsberg (b); Cliff Leeman (d) and Jerry Gray (arr). The vocalists on the following tracks are less clear.
What made this Shaw band special was its cool, swinging approach and a modernism that he would perfect a few years later. In some respects, many of the tracks recorded on the October 1937 session now seem like sketches or demos for Shaw's 1940 vision.
Here are seven tracks from the 1937 Thesaurus session:
Here's Have You Met Miss Jones...
Here's I'd Rather Be Right...
Here's Free Wheeling...
Here's Everything You Said Came True...
Here's You Have Everything...
Here's Shindig...
And here's I Want a New Romance...
JazzWax tracks: You can hear Artie Shaw and the Rhythm-Makers in full across three volumes of The Complete Rhythm-Makers Sessions 1937 - 1938. Or you'll find them on Spotify and other streaming platforms.