Artie Shaw, byname of Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, (born May 23, 1910, New York, New York, U.S.—died December 30, 2004, Newbury Park, California), American clarinetist and popular bandleader of the 1930s and ’40s. He was one of the few outstanding jazz musicians whose commitment to jazz was uncertain. Shaw began playing in high school and turned professional in 1925. The first signs of indecision became apparent in the early 1930s, when he retired from music for a year. In 1935, at a New York…