Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five

The already popular quintet formation seems fond of naming itself as a "Five" of one sort or another -- notes, chambers, Americans, guys named Moe, fakers, gravediggers, primaries, after hours and much more than five more. With all of that there is nonetheless only one distinct use of the Gramercy Five combo name. That was by famous swing bandleader and clarinetist Artie Shaw, who utilized the moniker to represent different small groupings through more than a dozen years of his career. Like everything Shaw was involved in including his career itself as well as his marriages, t...