Bunny Berigan - Leader & Sideman

Here's a great anonymous contribution - a nice continuation of a few earlier contributions and my own few "for europeans only" shares back in the earlier days of the blog...

Here's the wiki entry on Bunny Berigan for those who don't know him yet.

And here are some press clippings, including an article by Bunny himself on the topic Swing.



Tracks:

01 I Can't Get Started 1:18 (a)
02 Notre Dame Victory March 1:33 (a)
03 The Jazzeroo 3:22 (a)
04 Body And Soul 4:33 (b)
05 Ride, Red, Ride! 3:14 (b)
06 Mr. Ghost Goes To Town 3:21 (a)
07 Sweet Varsity Sue 3:05 (c)
08 Downstream 3:14 (d)
09 Black Bottom 3:50 (d)
10 Study In Brown 2:19 (e)
11 Bugle Call Rag 3:02 (f)
12 Contact 2:44 (g)
13 East Of The Sun 3:46 (h)
14 Ad-Lib Blues 12:24 (i)
15 I'm Confession 3:38 (j)

Credits:

(a) Broadcast: Saturday Night Swing Club, New York City, 5 November 1936.
Bunny Berigan leader of house band on a radio show.
(b) Same date. Small contingent from the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. Bunny Berigan not included.
(c) Paradise Restaurant New York City, 10 April 1938
Bunny Berigan, Irving Goodman, Steve Lipkins (tp), Al George, Nat Lobovsky (tb), Mike Doty, Joe Dixon (cl/as), Clyde Rounds, Georgie Auld (ts), Joe Lippman (p), Dick Wharton (g, voc), Hank Wayland (b), Johnny Blowers (dr).
(d) Same location, 3 May 1938.
Personnel same as (c).
(e) Same location, 16 April 1938.
Personnel same as (c).
(f) Panther Room, Hotel Sherman, Chicago, summer 1939.
Bunny Berigan, John Napton, Jake Koven, Joe Bauer (tp), Al Jennings, Mark Pasco (tb), Gus Bivona, Charles DiMaggio (as), Don Lodice, Larry Walsh (ts), Joe Buskin (p), Tommy Moore (g), Morty Shulmaker (b), Paul Collins (dr), Danny Richards (voc).
(g) New York City, March 1940.
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra: Bunny Berigan, Ray Linn, Jimmy Blake, John Dillard (tp), Tommy Dorsey, Les Jenkins, George Arus, Lowell Martin (tb), Johnny Mintz, Fred Stulce, Hymie Schertzer, Don Lodice, Paul Mason (saxes), Joe Buskin (p), Clark Young (g), Sid Weiss (b), Buddy Rich (dr).
(h) 28 May 1940. Personnel same as (g), except Leon Debrow (tp) replaces Dillard. Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers (voc).
(i) New York City, June 1940. Jam session. Bunny Berigan, Harry James, Roy Eldridge (tp), Tommy Dorsey, Jack Jenney (tb), Coleman Hawkins (ts), Count Basie (p), John Kirby (b), Gene Krupa (dr)
(j) Youngstown, Ohio, Spring 1942.
Little is known about the bands personnel. This is believed to be the last known aircheck of the Bunny Berigan band.


Here's Scott Yanow's AMG review:

This long-out-of-print LP contains quite a few intriguing rarities featuring great swing trumpeter Bunny Berigan. Berigan was arguably the top trumpeter in jazz during 1935-1938. The LP begins with Berigan heard as a featured sideman with a radio band in 1936, including a version of "Mr. Ghost Goes to Town." From the same broadcast, trumpeter Henry "Red" Allen and a quintet from the Mills Blue Rhythm Band (including altoist Tab Smith and pianist Billy Kyle) jam "Body and Soul" and the heated "Ride, Red, Ride." Four numbers from 1938 and one in 1939 feature Berigan's swing band, with the highlights including "Black Bottom," "A Study in Brown," and "Sugar Foot Stomp." Berigan is heard still in decent shape with the 1940 Tommy Dorsey Orchestra on "Contact" and "East of the Sun."

A June 1940 radio jam session goes on for 13 minutes, featuring Berigan in an all-star swing group with fellow trumpeters Harry James and Roy Eldridge, trombonists Tommy Dorsey and Jack Jenny, Coleman Hawkins on tenor, pianist Count Basie, bassist John Kirby, and drummer Gene Krupa. The recording quality is a bit shaky in spots, but it is certainly a unique pleasure hearing all of those musicians jamming a blues together. The Jazz Archives LP concludes with what is probably Berigan's final appearance on record, a radio aircheck version of "I'm Confessin'" with his last big band from the spring of 1942, just a few months before his death. Berigan sounds surprisingly good, if a little weary. Collectors will want to track down this rare LP.