Bunny Berigan

Bunny Berigan , actually Rowland Bernard Berigan (born November 2, 1908 in Hilbert ( Wisconsin ), † June 2, 1942 in New York City ) was one of the most important jazz trumpeters of the swing era .

Life

Berigan was a musical child prodigy who learned the violin and trumpet from an early age . After various engagements in local orchestras, he applied to the Hal Kemp orchestra in the late 1920s , but was initially rejected there. A second application was successful in mid-1930. With Kemp Berigan made his first recordings and took part in a tour of England. From 1931 he was also an increasingly sought-after studio musician and played in the bands of Fred Rich, Freddy Martin and Ben Selvin .

From late 1932 through 1933 Berigan was a member of Paul Whiteman's orchestra , and in 1934 he played with Abe Lyman. The following year he took part in numerous recordings and radio broadcasts as a guest of well-known bands such as the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra and Glenn Miller . Berigan also toured with Benny Goodman's big band . This was followed by an engagement with Tommy Dorsey . In 1937 he recorded a work by Vernon Duke under his own name, I Can't Get Started , which became his trademark.

He founded his own big band , which despite a number of good recordings for Brunswick , Vocalion , Victor and Decca was not financially successful and which he therefore had to dissolve in 1940 due to insolvency. Nevertheless, starting with Leo Robin's Ebb Tide (1937), he managed to position a total of 13 hits on the Billboard charts; his last hit was Turn on That Red Hot Heat (Burn Your Blues Away) in August 1937. A number of well-known musicians played in his orchestra, including a. Georgie Auld , Dave Barbour , Joe Bushkin , Cozy Cole , Ray Conniff , Bud Freeman , Vido Musso , Buddy Rich , Edgar Sampson , Hymie Schertzer , Graham Forbes , George Wettling and Dave Tough . In April 1940, recordings were made with the singer Lee Wiley .

Another brief engagement with Tommy Dorsey followed from the beginning of March to the end of June 1940; he also appeared as a soloist on a series of studio recordings by the young Frank Sinatra .

Around this time, health problems became increasingly apparent, primarily due to excessive alcohol consumption. Berigan did more than well with a small formation he led. In the spring of 1942 he was hospitalized in Pittsburgh with pneumonia , where he was also diagnosed with advanced liver cirrhosis . He ignored the doctors' advice to stop both drinking and playing the trumpet and went back to New York, where he died of severe internal bleeding.

meaning

Like Bix Beiderbecke , whose playing he was influenced by, Bunny Berigan is one of the tragic figures in jazz who became legends through an early death. Berigan himself always named Louis Armstrong as his greatest role model, but he managed to develop his own characteristic style of play. This is characterized by a very large range and virtuoso playing. Compared to other important jazz trumpeters, Berigan was also a master of lyrical playing in unusually low registers for the trumpet. Like Bobby Hackett , he is one of the pioneers of the modern, ballad-like way of playing Miles Davis or Chet Baker .

Discographic notes

• The Complete Brunswick , Parlophone and Vocalion Bunny Berigan Sessions ( Mosaic 2002) 7 CDs with Tommy Dorsey , Jimmy Dorsey , Eddie Lang , Joe Venuti , Benny Goodman , Boswell Sisters , Martha Boswell p, Mildred Bailey , Glenn Miller arr, Arthur Rollini , Adrian Adrian Rollini , Artie Shaw Johnny Mince , Chu Berry , Teddy Wilson , Red Norvo , Gene Krupa , George Van Eps , Artie Bernstein , Charlie Spivak , Eddie Miller , Red McKenzie , Bud Freeman , Joe Bushkin , Eddie Condon , Dave Tough , Cozy Cole , Billie Holiday , Babe Russian , George Wettling , Johnny Hodges , Edgar Sampson , Cliff Jackson

literature

• Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena 1978.

Web links

• Biography in the Bigband Library