Search - Bunny Berigan :: Bunny Berigan 1938

Bunny was a great, but you'd never know it with this

08/25/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Bunny Berigan was one of the great jazz trumpet soloists of the 1930s, but with some of the dreck he either chose to record or was forced to record (many included on this disc) you'd barely know it. The lead track is a perfect example of this dichotomy. "The Pied Piper" is a bouncy little number with some good trumpet breaks, but the song is plain awful. To make matters worse, Bunny's vocalists were not top flight, and they get plenty of time at the mike (14 of 22 songs). A couple of tributes to Bix at the end of the CD appear promising, but in reality drag monotonously. Too many goofy lyrics and syrupy vocals. Definitely not enough Bunny."