Artie Shaw discusses the term 'editor' in relation to jazz performance

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Artie Shaw on how it feels to perform after a long period away

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Artie Shaw discusses his musical legacy and its imfluence on his return to the spotlight

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Q: “Did you find any diminution of your musical skills from not playing for years? Was hearing music all the time – and I’m sure you did – was that adequate to keep you up on what was happening?”

A: Artie Shaw: “You're talking about two different things. You're talking about music and you're talking about performance. I stopped playing. I couldn't play a middle B that I could stand right now under four months of work. It bothers me to the extent that if you had a gangrenous right arm and you had to cut it off to stay alive ... “

Interviewer: “You'd miss the arm.”

Artie Shaw: “… you'd miss the arm. But which is better, life or a right arm? I'll go with the left arm if that's the only way I can live. So sure you miss it. I decided a long time ago, put it in arithmetical terms, I came out of the Navy and I realized that, you know, people don't know about talent. They keep talking about talent as if it's some great thing. Talent is a curse, too. It's a responsibility. To be talented means you are driven, you're obsessed. I mean, I'm driving a car and somebody says, "What are you playing?" I'm always playing. My fingers are as good as they ever were. My ability here with the chops to play a note to hold it up. Forget it. I couldn't. I tried once. It's a joke. I mean, thirty years of not playing. You've lost all contact. An instrument becomes part of you. I used to be able to play anything I thought. Now, when I sit here like this and I raise my little finger, I don't think to raise that finger. It raises, but when I play that thickened note, it came out. People say, "How did you do this?" I don't know. How do you do a gliss? You think gliss and gliss comes up.”