November 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of jazz trumpet
legend Bunny Berigan. During the month of November 2008, The Virtual
Victrola will feature the music of Bunny Berigan, both as a sideman and
bandleader.
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Music connoisseurs have long considered Billie Holiday's 1930's small group recordings to be among the finest jazz records ever made. Those efforts were produced by John Hammond, who assembled consistently high quality integrated studio bands whose personnel were drawn from the top jazz talent in New York. Bunny Berigan accompanied Billie Holiday on two sessions recorded in July and September 1936. I am featuring the September 1936 session in this post.
The band assembled by Hammond for this date consisted of Bunny Berigan (tp), Irving Fazola (cl), Clyde Hart (p), Dick McDonough (g), Artie Bernstein (b), and Cozy Cole (d). And as usual, Hammond managed to reserve good songs for Billie to sing, as opposed to the pot-boilers usually given to colored singers or minor label talent.
Berigan is in fine form on this set, displaying the full range of his playing capabilities -- the fierce outburst on "A Fine Romance," the rich lower register of "I Can't Pretend," the elegant, almost introverted muted work on "Let's Call a Heart A Heart," and the joyous romp through "One Two Button Your Shoe."
It must have been playing like this that prompted Louis Armstrong to once remark, "To me, Bunny can't do no wrong in music."
Download Billie Holiday - A Fine Romance
Download Billie Holiday - I Can't Pretend
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