Artie Shaw
Born: 23 May 1910
Died: 30 Dec 2004
Artie was laid to rest in the ‘Garden of Tranquility’ section at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, Los Angeles County, California.
His inscription reads as follows:
The Soul Of The Song
(For A.S.)
He taught the clarinet to think
Not just to sing.
To explore the music it was making,
To let the fingers probe and find
The hidden places,
The crevices of meaning and emotion a good song has –
But must be found and captured
By some divinity or other,
A melody that cannot just be played,
For nuances and grace notes can’t be chartered,
The secret tempos and their keys
Can only be discovered
By a mind that is listening for the soul
The manuscript does not display.
A. C. Greene
