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Artie Shaw, clarinetist and big-band leader, was born as Arthur Arshawsky in New York City on May 2, 1910. He grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. Before his huge success, Artie Shaw was just another hardworking and talented musician. Music was actually his second career choice. He made a living chopping wood and tried to train himself as a writer. He would do whatever it took in the music business to make twenty-five thousand and then pursue his career as a writer. While he was in high school he took up the saxophone. By the time he was fifteen he had left home and changed his name to Artie Shaw and was playing all over. Later in the year he decided to pick up where he had left off in his formal education. In the summer of 1925, he joined Johnny Cavallaro’s dance band and became an alto saxophonist. As time grew he then took up the clarinet which became his leading instrument. From 1926 to 1929, he worked in Cleveland and established a reputation as music director for an orchestra led by Austin Wylie, a violinist. He then toured as a tenor saxophonist with Irving Aaronson's band and while he was in Chicago he played in jam sessions with several local musicians. At the same time, he discovered the music of Claude Debussy and