Artie Shaw: Aesop's Foibles (Minnesota)

Artie Shaw was forever quitting the music business in disgust, only to return and repeat the cycle. In 1949 he was in comeback mode, first touring the country as clarinet soloist with local symphony orchestras, then forming what was heralded as Artie's "bop band." Despite the presence of sidemen from Woody Herman's and Gene Krupa's earlier "bop bands," and boppish charts by Johnny Mandel and Gene Roland, Shaw's outfit remained primarily a showcase for his pre-bop clarinet. "Minnesota," featuring solos by Shaw and Al Cohn, is an easygoing, pleasant, thoroughly competent piece that's as remote from bop as Minnesota is from Florida.