Bunny Berigan was one of the magnificent jazz soloists of the 1930s. After arriving in New York from Wisconsin, his yeoman work in the recording studios and brief but significant stints with the bands of Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey led to milestone recordings and enough notoriety for the star trumpeter to start his own big band. The band's failure can be attributed to Berigan's ignorance of how the business worked, and probably to his concurrent and increasingly destructive alcoholism, which led to his death at the age of only 33. This encyclopedic volume painstakingly documents Berigan's entire life and career. Zirpolo built on Robert Dupuis's commendable Bunny Berigan: Elusive Legend of Jazz (CH, Jul'93, 30-6086), and he benefits from extensive research completed since that time, particularly a collection of materials gathered by "Bozy" White. The amount of detail in Zirpolo's account may be overwhelming for a casual reader (extended notes profile many figures of the swing era), but serious fans and scholars will appreciate this definitive biography. The White materials are also scheduled to lead to a biodiscography--a discography being notably absent from the present volume. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers who are students or aficionados of jazz.

Choice Reviews

A fine addition to your jazz library.

Jazz Journal

From time to time, the opportunity comes along to praise the dedication and hard work of a respected acquaintance. This is an especially pleasant opportunity when a book exceeds the already high expectations that one may have had in advance of publication. Knowing the writer and the subject matter led me to expect nothing but the best and most informative read. However, having read and considered the contents of the work, I can enthusiastically say that I have just finished an impressive work of professional scholarship that will stand as one of the rare and essential histories of jazz and the big band era.

Examiner

This book is, no doubt, the last word on Berigan. At 550 pages it is an impressive body of work, thoroughly researched and, befitting its subject, never dull.

Jersey Jazz

From now on, everyone writing about the great swing and big band trumpeter Bunny Berigan will have to refer to this book. When they do, they just might realize that they should pick out another jazzman to write about: Berigan is covered. Mr. Trumpet is and will be for a long time the definitive biography of this wonderful musician. ... he has done his homework and has created a book that every Bunny Berigan fan will want to keep on their shelves for repeated readings, as well as a book that casual fans of the music of the swing years, the late '20s and '30s, will devour like a slice of lemon meringue pie. ... Mr. Trumpet takes us inside not just a man's life but a whole world that we know only superficially. It's a story worth the telling and a world worth the seeing.

Rambles.NET

Michael Zirpolo's book is an immense blessing: it is the book on Bunny Berigan that we have been waiting for. Every page has a new story — funny, revealing, or sad — about this man who threw himself into his music so wholeheartedly that he played more in his brief lifetime than six or seven other (more well-behaved) musicians. But the book is also a Wicked Tempter, so beware! I have it on my kitchen table and whenever I walk by, Mr. Trumpet beckons to me. I read two pages, entranced, and I have to tear myself away by brute force to get on with the less entrancing parts of everyday life. Intoxicating, addictive, a good read, a page-turner . . . you name it. I wanted to say this now, right away, so that others could get hooked, too!

Michael Steinman, Jazz Lives