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.
__________________________________________
1936 was a very busy year for trumpeter Bunny Berigan. He had been a member of Benny Goodman's band throughout the middle and latter part of 1935, but quit when the band returned to New York in October. Berigan disliked the drudgery of touring in a road band, and work for him in the studios and clubs of New York City was plentiful.
He began hanging around The Famous Door on 52nd street, playing in the evenings with a group led by singer Red McKenzie, guitarist Eddie Condon, and tenor saxophonist Forrest Crawford. The Famous Door band was a hit, and McKenzie soon got a recording contract with Decca records for the group, under his longstanding working name - The Mound City Blue Blowers.
These sides, recorded between January and April of 1936, again show Bunny to be a powerful lead player, satisfying accompanist, and thrilling soloist. They also provide the first glimpse at what was to become a Berigan phenomenon - his interpretation of the Vernon Duke-Ira Gershwin standard, "I Can't Get Started."
As the story goes, the song was discovered by John DeVries, an occasional songwriter and friend of the 52nd street gang. He brought the music to The Famous Door and asked the band to run it down during rehearsal. Bunny immediately fell in love with the tune, and the band made it a regular part of their nightly shows. The band recorded it on April 3, 1936, with Berigan playing lead (no solo, though) and Red McKenzie singing the lyric. The rest, as they say, is history.
Download Mound City Blue Blowers -
Mama Don't Allow It
(mp3)
Download Mound City Blue Blowers -
The Music Goes 'Round And Around
(mp3)
Download Mound City Blue Blowers -
If I Had Rhythm In My Nursery Rhymes
(mp3)
Download Red McKenzie and his Rhythm Kings -
I Can't Get Started
(mp3)
Comments