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Artie Shaw

Day 3
#92 – Arthur Jacob Arshawsky (1910–2004), known as Artie Shaw. American clarinetist, composer, bandleader and author. Recordings include: Begin the Beguine (1938), Frenesi (1940) and Concerto for Clarinet (1940).

By all accounts Artie Shaw was something of a perfectionist, so the simple, finely drawn clarinet seemed apt. But how could I get across ‘Artie’? Looking through different typefaces, the elegant strokes and serifs of the Baskerville ‘A’ were similar in shape to the clarinet. At first I used the clarinet drawing to form the crossbar but with the serifs looking so similar to the end of a clarinet this led to the final solution. 

3.5 hours

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One of the early design layouts

Listen...

to ‘Begin the Beguine’

 
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4. Wayne Shorter