Bunny Berigan’s career hauntingly paralleled that of Bix Beiderbeck. Both Bunny Berigan’s and Bix Beiderbeck’s individualistic styles, compromising in playing with commercial bands, losing battle with alcoholism, and disintegration and death followed a similar pattern.

Berigan’s first big hit records were with the Benny Goodman big band. For classic Bunny Berigan solos hear Goodman’s version of King Porter Stomp and Sometimes I’m Happy both recorded in 1935. Bunny Berigan’s biggest hit was a ballad, recorded under his own name, in which he played and sang a song called I Can’t Get Started. His solo on Tommy Dorsey’s recording of Marie is a classic as well. For up-tempo Berigan hear Gangbuster’s Holiday also recorded with his own band or Blue Lou with the Metronome All Stars of 1939. Bunny won the Metronome Poll in both 1937 and 1939.

The historic articles that follow below, we felt, were the best way to give you a glimpse of Bunny Berigan. They are subject to strict copyright enforcement by the magazines Metronome and Downbeat. They are included solely as an educational tool, meant for the enrichment and edification of jazz lovers and historians alike.