Bunny Berigan

Rowland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan ( Hilbert , November 2 1908 - New York June 2 1942 ) was an American jazz trumpeter from the swing era . He was at that time alongside Louis Armstrong and Roy Eldridge main trumpeter.

Contents

 * 1 The beginning
 * 2 Successes
 * 3 Own orchestra
 * 4 Discography
 * 5 Bibliography
 * 6 See also

The start
Bunny Berigan was a musical child prodigy who played early violin and piano. He played in local orchestras and applied in 1928 or 1929 as a trumpet player with Hal Kemp, who rejected him. In 1930, Kemp took him in and took him on a tour of Europe. Also followed recordings. From 1931 he was a much sought after studio musician and he played in several orchestras for recordings, radio broadcasts and Broadway shows. He worked in the band of Paul Whiteman (end of 1932, 1933), Abe Lyman (1934) and especially the CBS orchestra of Frederich (until 1935). With the latter orchestra he played in 1934, in a short film, 'Mirrors'.

[Successes edit ]
He had a great reputation as a soloist. In 1935 he played a few months in the band of Benny Goodman . Soloist on two plates of Goodman, "King Porter Stomp" and "Sometimes I'm Happy," which had great success: it was the first hits for Goodman. With his band Berigan also went along on the tour through the American West, which ended in the famous performance at Palomar Ballroom , Los Angeles, which is seen as the beginning of the swing era. He played the same year by Glenn Miller, who had his first orchestra. With Berigan Miller made his first recordings as a leader. Berigan then went back to do studio work, including forBillie Holiday . In 1936 he joined the band of Tommy Dorsey and delivered his game Dorsey two hits: "Marie" and "Song of India".

Own orchestra [ edit ]
In 1937 Berigan started his own orchestra, which in financial terms was not very successful, although he soon had a hit with the classic "I Can not Get Started" (a composition by Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke ) and in the band Good musicians were (as Georgie Auld and Buddy Rich ). The group regularly performed in the CBS radio show "Saturday Night Swing Club." The major successes failed to materialize and Berigan struggled to run the tire well. It led to a worsening of his drinking problem. In 1939 he was bankrupt and forced his orchestra to dismantle. He went in March 1940 to work again with Tommy Dorsey, whom he Frank Sinatra accompanied by recordings. Berigan but struggled again to be a sideman and tried it again with their own (small) band. However, he continued to drink and his health deteriorated rapidly. In the spring of 1942 he was admitted with pneumonia at a hospital in Pittsburgh, which also liver cirrhosis was found. Berigan hit warnings to stop drinking and trumpet, however, in the wind and went back to New York. He died on June 2, 1942 to internal bleeding.

Berigans version of "I Can not Get Started" was used in several films: " Save the Tiger "(1973)," Chinatown "(from Roman Polanski, 1974) and the short film " The Big Shave "(by Martin Scorsese , 1967). Fox Lake holds since the early seventies annual "Bunny Berigan Jazz Jubilee.

[Discography edit ]

 * The Complete Brunswick, Parlophone and Vocalion Bunny Berigan Sessions (recorded 1931-1935), Mosaic
 * The Pied Piper 1934-1940, Bluebird / RCA
 * Bunny Berigan and His Boys 1935-1936, Classics
 * Bunny Berigan and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (radio recordings, 1936), Fanfare
 * Sing! Sing! Sing! Volume 1, 1936-1938 (Bunny Berigan and the Rhythm makers) Jass
 * Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra 1937-1938, Classics
 * Classic Tracks (recordings 1937-1939), Kaz
 * Bunny Berigan Plays Again, RCA Victor
 * Bunny Berigan Plays Bix (songs of Bix Beiderbecke ), RCA

[Bibliography edit ]

 * Michael P. Zirpolo: Mr. Trumpet: The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumph of Bunny Berigan (Studies in Jazz, 64). Scarecrow Press, 2011.