Bunny Berigan
1908-1942
Bandleader,
Musician
The accomplishments of Bernard "Bunny"
Berigan have secured his place in the  annals
of American musical history. In his short lifetime, Berigan
performed on more than six hundred recordings and achieved national
as well as international success. He served as a direct link
between Louis Armstrong and those who developed from his roots
- Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown,
Wynton Marsalis, and others. Berigan and his soaring trumpet
catapulted the Benny Goodman band, along with the rest of the
country, into the swing era and assured Goodman's coronation
as the "King of Swing." Berigan's uninhibited jazz
style inspired and dominated every group with which he played,
including the bands of Hal Kemp, Paul Whiteman, and Tommy Dorsey.
His great technical skills and instant reading ability made
him a coveted studio player for such vocalists as Billie Holiday,
Bing Crosby, Mildred Bailey, and Lee Wiley. During his remarkable
career Berigan not only played with the music industry's giants,
he became one as well.
Roland Bernard Berigan was born in Hilbert,
Wisconsin in 1908. His father's side was originally from County
Kilkenny, Ireland and his mother's family was from Germany.
Berigan recognized his love for music at an early age. Introduced
to the violin at age six, Berigan took up the trumpet five
years later and never looked back. By age thirteen he had
begun playing professionally. In 1925, a move to Madison,
Wisconsin thrust the young Berigan into contact with many
influential professionals and enabled him to position himself
in the forefront of an elite group of emerging jazz musicians.
He played with the University of Wisconsin jazz group but
did not attend college there. After a European tour and some
recording work he decided to move to the East Coast.
Berigan's move to New York shortly before
the beginning of the Great Depression launched him on the
road to success. He also met his wife, Donna McArthur and
they married in Syracuse in May 1931. They eventually had
two daughters, Patricia and Joyce. In addition to working
as a sideman in several popular recording bands, Berigan became
a principal player on the CBS radio network.
In 1937, he formed his own band and signed
a recording contract with Victor. He recorded his most famous
hit and theme song, I Can't Get Started, which was one of
the first recordings inducted into the Hall of Fame of the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. With the
young tenor saxophonist George Auld and Buddy Rich on drums,
Berigan had a promising new band. His drinking began to cause
problems, however, and after a strong start the band stalled
the following year. Considered a minor-league outfit by then
despite its leaders star appeal, the orchestra was often given
inferior material to record by its label and opportunities
were missed. By 1939 Berigan's playing was starting to decline
a bit, and his orchestra had not had a major hit in two years.
The following year Berigan was forced to declare bankruptcy
and the three-year old Bunny Berigan Orchestra came to an
end.
Between 1936 and 1938 Bunny Berigan and
his Band had thirteen charted hits. Four of them reached the
top ten with "Honeysuckle Rose" reaching #4 in 1937.
Berigan went back to Tommy Dorsey's band,
where he stayed six months, contributing a few solos but sliding
steadily downhill. His drinking accelerated, and Dorsey was
forced to let him go. Berigan made two further attempts to
lead his own big bands, but both his playing and his health
steadily declined. He died on June 2, 1942.
Over the course of his career, Berigan altered
the voice of jazz for all time. One most wonder at the even
greater impact that he would have made had he not succumbed
to cirrhosis of the liver when he was only thirty-three. Twelve
years of excessive consumption of alcohol, coupled with malnutrition
and overwork, ended the life of one of the twentieth century's
greatest trumpeters.
External Links
|
