[Dixielandjazz] Dorsey Berigan Solos and Corky

[Robert Newman]

The two most famous Berigan solos on TD records, Marie and Song of India, were done on January 29th, 1937.     They are the ones transcribed and harmonized for the trumpets of the ghost bands headed by Sam Donahue, Murray McEachern, and Buddy Morrow.

We saw the Donahue Dorsey band here in Sacramento with Ziggy Elman, Helen Forrest, and Frank Sinatra Junior, to name a few.    The band was powerfu, precise, l and entertaining, but Elman was in terrible shape as a soloist.

We also saw the McEachern Dorsey band here,  which was also good and surprisingly had Corky Corcoran on tenor -- almost the last time Corky played with a name band.    After he was here he returned to his home town, Tacoma, to gig around with Red Kelly and Jack Perciful and Art Doll and Bill Ramsay and other Tacoma-Seattle friends before he died of throat cancer there in 1979.

Bob Newman