Trumpeter Bunny Berigan (1908-1942) has been posthumously honored with more than 60 different compilations documenting his adventures as sideman and as leader of swing bands big and small. One excellent disc was issued in 1995 by the Best of Jazz label as An Introduction to Bunny Berigan: His Best Recordings 1935-1939. A superb soloist, Berigan was a key participant among those whose work defined what later came to be called “The Swing Era.” This is made abundantly clear as he is heard with Red Norvo and His Swing Octet, Bud Freeman and His Windy City Five, the Mound City Blue Blowers, alongside clarinetist Artie Shaw in a group accompanying Billie Holiday, with orchestras led by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Gene Gifford, and as a prominent voice in a couple of friendly all-star conflagrations including the famous 1937 jam session at Victor with Fats Waller and continuo. – arwulf arwulf
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