[Dixielandjazz] Bunny Berigan

[rorel at aol.com]

  Earlier in this thread mention was made on more than occasion of the "few sides" Berigan made with his own big band. I count well over one hundred sides made in 1936-38 alone, not counting airchecks and small-group titles. Without a doubt, he was one of the most prolific of the 'big name' jazz men -- in general, not with his own band. Red Nichols, I would think, also qualifies. See: http://user.tninet.se/~npt755v/crondisc.htm for more on Berigan's recordings.
 
 What I love so much about Berigans playing is his exploitation of the entire range of the trumpet. One of my favorites among his recordings is "Trees" where he goes from G (+/-) below middle C to G (+/-) above high C in a handful of bars, without sounding contrived or gimmicky. As matter of fact, it may be among the most soulful renderings of the song ever recorded.
 
 Buying a box of arrangements sight-unseen on the internet, imagine my delight and surprise when sitting between two charts was a little page from an autograph album with Berigan's signature! I love these little links to our jazz past. It kind of shrinks down time.
 
 Ray Osnato
 
 
    
 -----Original Message-----
 From: dwlit at cpcug.org
 To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
 Sent: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 9:35 PM
 Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Dorsey Berigan Solos and Corky
 
  I heard the Dorsey Ghost band at one of the 1981 inaugural balls, and it
sucked; had a kid on electric bass who had it cranked up so loud it
dominated the band...

Both of the Berigan solos are in my "30s-40s Fake Book"; my "Song of
India" sheet is the record.

Dunno whether they're available on CD, but Berigan's big band made ca. 3
double LPs' worth of records for Victor, at least 3 cassettes. He also did
a couple of "Thesaurus" sessions that were reissued on Jass label. His
enjoyable mid-30s small band sessions were reissued on a couple of
Classics CDs.

--Sheik

>
   
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