Chris Griffin
b. Gordon Griffin, 31 October 1915, Binghamton, New York, USA. Playing professionally from his early teens, Griffin joined Charlie Barnet's big band in 1933, where he was third trumpet to Eddie Sauter and Tutti Camarata. He then worked with several noted swing era stars, including Teddy Wilson and Benny Goodman. In the Goodman trumpet section Griffin shared lead and solo duties with Ziggy Elman and Harry James, forming one of the most powerful brass teams of the era. At the end of the '30s he was engaged mostly in studio work where, apart from occasional recording dates with Goodman and Jimmy Dorsey, he remained for the next several decades. For many years Griffin and Pee Wee Erwin ran a trumpet school. In 1974 he was reunited with Goodman at the Schaefer Music Festival in New York's Central Park and in the '80s could be heard playing in clubs in and around New Jersey, occasionally appearing at clubs and festivals in Europe. In 1986 he took part in the Fifth Annual Floating Jazz Festival on the SS NORWAY.