“Best of Big Bands” Album Cover
“Big Band” leader and clarinet player Artie Shaw (front and center) and his 14-piece band recorded this top-selling song of 1938, “Begin the Beguine” (a “Beguine” is a slow, Caribbean, foxtrot-like dance), in a July 1938 recording session at the old RCA recording studios [map] in Midtown Manhattan. [Audio from archive.org.]