Michael Stein asks: >...Artie Shaw composed and recorded a Concerto for Clarinet. Does anyone >recall this work, and whether it has been made available recently? I bought a 1940 version of it a few years ago on an Artie Shaw CD released as part of a series originating from the UK company Marshall Cavendish and using mainlly pre-WWII material licensed from US labels. They were sold through newsagencies (ie shops that sells newspapers). I imagine it's highly likely the track, if not the same compilation, is available in the US. It's not a concerto in the usual sense. It runs 9:32. There's a slow introduction, a section with a boogie ostinato (if that's not a tautology) and solos by trumpet, trombone, piano and clarinet. A short reflective section gives way to clarinet and drums in the manner of Benny Goodman's Sing Sing Sing, followed by a riff with all the band gradually joining in while the clarinet soars over the top, indulges in a short cadenza, and it's over. The best-known track - to me - on the CD is Frenesi. Hearing it again after many many years, it sounded almost like an unexpected entry in Marco Polo's British light music series. Richard Pennycuick [log in to unmask]