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Chris Griffin: the Last of Goodman's Biting Brass

Read "Chris Griffin: the Last of Goodman's Biting Brass" reviewed by David French


Chris Griffin spent the afternoon of his 89th birthday in a Connecticut casino lounge listening to a big band play hits from the Swing Era. Most of the audience was older, many of them dancers who applauded favorites by Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra. Griffin sipped red wine in a booth with a good view of the band. Carefully dressed in a blazer and tie, he looked every bit the legend.

Griffin earned jazz immortality as a member ...

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Obituary

Big band trumpeter Chris Griffin dead at 89

Big band trumpeter Chris Griffin dead at 89

Source: All About Jazz

DANBURY, Conn. -- Chris Griffin, a member of the acclaimed trumpet section in Benny Goodman's big-band orchestra, has died.

Griffin, 89, died June 18 at Danbury Hospital. The cause was melanoma, according to his fiancee, Louise Baranger.

Griffin was a member of what critics called “The Biting Brass" trumpet threesome in Goodman's orchestra, playing alongside Harry James and Ziggy Elman. Duke Ellington once called the three “the greatest trumpet section that ever was."

Griffin played with the orchestra from 1936 ...

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