Bunny Berigan: Elusive Legend of Jazz » (New Edition)

The accomplishments of seminal jazz trumpeter Bernard "Bunny" Berigan have secured his place in the annals of American music history. In his short lifetime (1908-1942), Berigan performed on more than six hundred recordings and served as a direct link between Louis Armstrong and later musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, and Wynton Marsalis. Berigan lent his uninhibited jazz style to the big bands of Benny Goodman, Hal Kemp, and Tommy Dorsey, and he was in demand as a studio musician for vocalists Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, and Mildred Bailey. In addition to playing for the music industry's giants, Berigan became one himself by forming his own band in 1937 and recording his most famous hit and theme song, "I Can't Get Started." In the first comprehensive biography of Berigan, Robert Dupuis draws on hundreds of interviews with family, friends, and colleagues to present a fascinating and entertaining look at the fast-paced career and personal life of this jazz great.

Publishers Weekly

Bernard ``Bunny'' Berigan (1908-1942) was only 33 when he died an alcoholic's death in New York City, far from his rural hometown of Fox Lake, Wis. Berigan, who played with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey before forming his own band in 1937, wasn't as widely recognized as other bandleaders of his era, but his fans were intensely loyal. His own fidelity, however, comes into question: when Berigan's wife heard that the trumpeter was having an affair with singer Lee Wiley, she confronted him, saying, ``It's her or me''--Bunny choose Lee. Dupuis, a former Detroit school principal, brings together the major successes and myriad scrapes of Berigan's brilliant yet tormented career. Interviews with friends and acquaintances from Fox Lake as well as from the music industry give this enjoyable if occasionally sluggish volume a friendly, admiring tone. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)