“My Heart Stood Still”
Composed by Richard Rodgers; arranged by Jerry Gray.
Recorded by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra for Bluebird on January 17, 1939 in New York.
Artie Shaw, clarinet, directing: John Best, first trumpet; Chuck Peterson and Bernie Privin, trumpets; George Arus, first trombone; Harry Rodgers and Les Jenkins, trombones; Les Robinson, first alto saxophone; Hank Freeman, alto saxophone; Tony Pastor and Georgie Auld, tenor saxophones; Bob Kitsis, piano; Al Avola, guitar; Sid Weiss, bass; Buddy Rich, drums.
The story:
The Rodgers and Hart song “My Heart Stood Still” was one of ten tunes included in a five-record Victor-Bluebird Artie Shaw album of 78 rpm records that was released in early 1939. That set was called Artie Shaw plays an Album of Popular Music. The “concept” of the album was to present ten songs written by the greatest composers of what later would be called “Great American Popular Song,” arranged and played in swing style by Artie Shaw and his band. Among the composers whose work was included: George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers. Jerry Gray, Shaw’s chief arranger, provided the scores for eight of the ten tunes. The other two arrangements were written by Artie himself (“Vilia”), and “Rosalie,” by Shaw’s guitarist, Al Avola.
The Shaw band was in the last month of of a three and a half month engagement in the Blue Room of Hotel Lincoln in Manhattan when they made this recording. The Bluebird session on January 17, 1939 that produced “My Heart Stood Still” lasted from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m., and resulted in five of the ten tunes to be included in the album being recorded in that four-hour session. Artie Shaw and his band were obviously very well prepared, and inspired, when they entered the recording studio that day. Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the Shaw band, most definitely including Artie himself, were on fire then.
This Jerry Gray arrangement allows the impeccable and swinging Shaw ensemble to shine, driven all the way by their new drummer, the 21 year-old phenom, Buddy Rich. Rich, after working in a number of bands in 1938, most notably Bunny Berigan’s, where he was encouraged to rock, was quickly becoming a virtuoso big band drummer. (Hear Rich’s great drumming on the Berigan aircheck of “Moten Swing” at endnote 1.) Very shortly after Rich’s childhood friend from Brooklyn, tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld, joined the Shaw band on December 16, 1938, Auld learned of Artie’s difficulty in getting a suitable replacement for drummer Cliff Leeman, who had had to depart in early December for medical reasons. Auld reported this to Rich, Buddy came to the Blue Room of Hotel Lincoln, sat-in, and impressed Shaw. Artie then asked Rich about his ability to read music. Rich, with total honesty, told Shaw that he couldn’t read music and didn’t have to read music. After hearing any arrangement a couple of times, he could play whatever was required, and usually a lot more. Artie was dubious, but he couldn’t help but notice that his band was greatly energized when Rich was playing with them, as was he. So he hired Rich sometime in late December, and Buddy gave Berigan two weeks notice.
Buddy began to attend rehearsals of the Shaw band during the first week of 1939. He did a lot of listening to the Shaw band, and of course a lot of playing with them. Shaw had taken several days off after January 1 to fly to Cuba for some rest. By the time Artie returned and he and his band appeared on their CBS Melody and Madness radio show on January 8, Buddy Rich was well integrated into the Shaw ensemble. Artie was amazed, and delighted: Rich would provide some serious rhythmic firepower for his band through 1939. (Above right: Buddy Rich and Artie Shaw – 1939.)
As soon as Shaw and company left the Lincoln on February 2, 1939, they began a brutal six-week tour of large theaters, playing as many as six shows a day. Theaters were a place where a lot of money could be made by a bandleader in a hurry. It was not unusual for a top band to gross between $5,000.00 and $10,000.00 a week for playing a major theater. (Multiply by 15 to get the value in today’s dollars.) It was during this time that Artie Shaw finally, after two and a half years of leading and building bands, had earned enough money to pay off all of his debts, and secure financial control of his own band. In addition, he was earning enough to begin saving money in order to eventually leave the band business. At least that had been his stated objective before he became a matinee idol. After he became a matinee idol, things got complicated.
Artie Shaw in the Blue Room of Hotel Lincoln – early 1939. The guitarist is Al Avola; in front of him is Tony Pastor.
Here is an article that appeared in the March 8 issue of Variety. Although it does not present all of the major developments in Shaw’s career that were happening in rapid succession in February and March of 1939, it does touch on many of the important advancements for him that were happening then.
ARTIE SHAW IS THE MR. CINDERELLA OF BOUNCE BANDS; IN THE RED 3 MOS. AGO
By Ben Bodec
“Artie Shaw, the newest thing in bounce bands, who last week signatured a contract with RCA Victor which guarantees him an income from phonograph records of $100,000 for the next two years, can lay claim to skyrocketing from behind the eight-ball into the realm of big money within
a period of three months.
When Shaw took his band into the Lincoln Hotel, N. Y., last December, he was in the red for $11,000. Today, besides the disc coin, he’s good for a minimum of $6,500 a week in theatres, $2,250 in radio (Old Gold), and a $1,100 guarantee on one-nighters. It was only last fall (really, it was at the end of 1937 – MZ ) that the Music Corp. of America let Shaw go because it became convinced that the bandman’s future was dubious. He asked for his release and it was given him with dispatch. Now Shaw Is considered by booking offices as one of the four top gold mines in the business. For revenue possibilities he rates in a class with Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Larry Clinton.
Artie Shaw and his band meet the public – 1939.
Shaw got his original opportunity as a batonlst from Rockwell- O’Keefe (a band booking agency) in 1936, when that office placed him in the Lexington Hotel, N. Y. Things after that didn’t pan out so well for him. His outfit then included strings. He couldn’t make a go of it, and changed his style to conform with demand for hot outfits. It was Charlie Shribman (really Si Shribman, Charlie’s brother – MZ), of the Boston ballroom operating firm that next took a chance on Shaw. Shribman built a band around him and spotted him into his State Ballroom in Boston last spring, from where Shaw started to be heard from as a coming name. Shaw’s stipend from Shribman was $65 a week, and that was only eight months ago. Soon afterwards Shaw’s Bluebird records started to click. It was his cutting of ‘Begin the Beguine’ that helped build him to his present position. Then came the (sponsored network radio show) contract from Old Gold and the date at the Lincoln. It’s been easy (not so easy – see below – MZ) and rich sailing from then on. Rockwell General Amusement Corp., successor to Rockwell-O’Keefe, meanwhile became Shaw’s booking agent. Artie Shaw orchestra is currently being mentioned for a major New York hotel spot next fall, either the Hotel New Yorker or the Pennsylvania, both of which are now under consideration.” (2)
I will make a few observations about this article. First, its use of the term “Cinderella” to describe Shaw’s ascent to stardom as the leader of a swing band must have had special charm for Artie. Thirteen years after this article appeared, Shaw published an autobiography of sorts entitled The Trouble with Cinderella. Second, Si Shribman did not build a band around Art. The band Shaw took into various Shribman owned or controlled ballrooms starting in March of 1938 had been in existence for a year. Third, the terms of Shaw’s agreement with Si Shribman have not been discovered by historians (to my knowledge). What is known however is that whatever the terms of that agreement were, Shaw was persuaded to pay Shribman $22,500.00 in exchange for a full and final release from it. This happened in early March of 1939, and it was how Shaw was able to obtain full ownership of his band.(3)
Paradoxically, very soon after Artie had reached this good place financially, he began to understand that what was happening to him was not something he could control. He became a part of an ongoing business plan involving his booking agent, General Amusement Corporation (GAC), and many other promoters and impresarios, to present him and his band in various entertainment venues for the maximum amount of money obtainable. That was fine, because the more money Shaw made for his handlers, the more money he himself made. But the pace of his activity then accelerated further from fast to breakneck. Artie was now riding a bucking bronco that he couldn’t restrain.
There were further positive developments on the business side of the Shaw band. They were signed to appear in a feature film to be made by M-G-M in the summer of 1939. They secured a lengthy engagement at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, to coincide with the film-making. More lucrative theater dates were lined up. A bonanza now lay before Shaw. Unfortunately, just as Artie was beginning to finally make serious money as a bandleader, his physical and mental health began to crack.
The music:
“My Heart Stood Still” is a 1927 song with music composed by Richard Rodgers and a lyric (not included in this performance) by Lorenz Hart. It was written for the revue One Dam’ Thing after Another, which opened at the London (England) Pavilion on May 19, 1927. That show starred ran for 237 performances. The song was also included in a play, A Connecticut Yankee, which opened on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theater on November 3, 1927, and closed on October 27, 1928, running for 421 performances.(4) Early recordings of “My Heart Stood Still” in the late 1920s included those by George Olsen, The California Ramblers, Ben Selvin and Paul Whiteman. Then it lay dormant for a decade.
How “My Heart Stood Still” came to be chosen as one of the ten theater songs to be included in the 1939 Artie Shaw/Bluebird Records album called Artie Shaw plays an Album of Popular Music is not known. My informed speculation is that Shaw was familiar with the Whiteman recording, which was cast in an arrangement by Bill Challis, with a solo by Frank Trumbauer on C-melody saxophone. Artie assigned Jerry Gray to make an arrangement of it, and the result, a superb example of music in the swing idiom, is what we hear on Shaw’s Bluebird recording.
The four-bar introduction Jerry Gray wrote for this arrangement is a fine illustration of his tremendous ability to compose miniature melodies as complements to whatever the main melodies of any song he was arranging were. Here he presents the Shaw brass sextet, led by trumpeter John Best, playing a delightful curtain-raising fragment, balanced with a few choice notes from the four saxophones. The tempo Shaw set for this performance is in that sweet-spot called medium, what Louis Armstrong called “half-fast.” (At left: arranger Jerry Gray in 1939.)
The first chorus spots those saxophones, under the gliding, scooping lead of Les Robinson, setting forth the rising and falling main melody with contrasting asides provided by the brass. The brass then take the lead on the secondary bridge melody, underlined by the reeds. The saxophone quartet then plays a bit of the main melody to start the last eight bars of the first chorus, but Gray augments their singing sound with bright brass in the last few bars to heighten the intensity of the music.
The second chorus is given over to Shaw’s solo clarinet, and here it is presented at its swinging best. His first sixteen bars are splendid jazz, backed in fine fashion by the saxophones and drummer Buddy Rich’s choked high-hat cymbals. As a contrast to what Shaw had just played, tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld plays a melodic paraphrase on the bridge against straight-muted brass. Shaw returns after a mini ensemble fanfare to finish the chorus with yet more inspired improvisation. (Above right: Shaw’s saxophones in 1939: L-R: Georgie Auld, Hank Freeman, Les Robinson and Tony Pastor.)
The entire band then rocks through a sixteen bar sequence that demonstrates that they were playing at a virtuoso level technically, and with great exuberance spiritually. Buddy Rich demonstrates in this passage that he was already a superb big band drummer: hear how he kicks the ensemble. The smoldering trumpet solo on the bridge, which provides yet another contrast, is played by the not-yet twenty year old Bernie Privin.
A cadence sends the band swinging through the final measures as arranger Gray takes the music on a dramatic ascent in register to a joyous finish.
This is a terrific performance by a band and leader who had arrived at a place where they were creating some of the most memorable music of the swing era.
The recording presented with this post was digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
Notes and links:
(1) Here is a link to Buddy Rich propelling Bunny Berigan’s band in inspired fashion: https://swingandbeyond.com/2025/08/28/moten-swing-1938-bunny-berigan-with-georgie-auld-gus-bivona-ray-conniff-and-buddy-rich/
(2) Variety, March 8, 1939, 49.
(3) Variety, March 22, 1939, 49.
(4) The information about the composing of the song” My Heart Stood Still” are extracted from the Wikipedia article on it.
Here are links to other great performances by Artie Shaw and his 1939 band:
https://swingandbeyond.com/2017/03/03/vilia-1939-artie-shaw/
https://swingandbeyond.com/2021/04/17/rose-room-artie-shaw-1939-two-versions/
https://swingandbeyond.com/2018/10/13/the-chant-1939-artie-shaw-and-klezmer-music/
https://swingandbeyond.com/2019/06/13/i-surrender-dear-1937-and-1939-artie-shaw/
https://swingandbeyond.com/2024/03/06/alone-together-1939-artie-shaw-1957-les-and-larry-elgart/
https://swingandbeyond.com/2022/08/20/oh-lady-be-good-1937-benny-goodman-1939-artie-shaw/
Here is an homage to Artie Shaw and his 1939 band performed by a fine band whose musical sensibilities are in exactly the right place:
And yet another homage to Maestro Shaw:
I am addicted to swing era jazz and frequently play a CD I burned of my favorite Artie Shaw recordings, including My Heart Stood Still, which no doubt is a superb arrangement played superbly by a top-notch swing band. In my opinion, at this stage (1938-39) Artie Shaw’s band was playing a type of swing that was second to none but, to my ears, in a more sophisticated (for lack of a better word) style than Benny Goodman and the rest of the field. Naturally, most of the credit for this stylistic distinction belongs to the brilliant arranger Jerry Gray. I love this My Heart Stood Still recording so much that I have played it consecutively for long stretches and the same goes for Alone Together, Rose Room, I’m Yours, and others from this late 30’s iteration of Artie Shaw and his Orchestra. Thank you very much for this interesting article.