As if to make his best-known piece, "I Can't Get Started," particularly ironic,
Bunny Berigan's heavy drinking and fast-paced lifestyle cut his life short in 1942 when he was only 33 years old, and all told, the swing trumpeter's recorded legacy doesn't even span a decade. Still, his incredible range on the instrument and his always beautiful tone have given him a deserved spot as one of the greatest trumpet players in the history of jazz. This five-disc, 124-track box from Britain's JSP Records collects
Berigan's early work as a prized sideman through his later efforts as a bandleader, and includes sides from the Parlophone, Vocalion, and Brunswick labels, in effect duplicating the seven-disc Mosaic Records box set. The essentials are all here, including sessions with
Bing Crosby,
Glenn Miller,
Tommy Dorsey,
the Boswell Sisters,
Artie Shaw,
Eddie Condon,
Gene Krupa,
Joe Venuti, and many others.
–
Steve Leggett, Rovi