Chris Griffin is a name worth knowing if a listener enjoys the trumpet. No less an expert than Duke Ellington said so. He once picked out the line-up of Harry James, Ziggy Elman and Griffin as "the best trumpet section of all time," a moment of generosity as well as brass appraisal since this trumpet trio was an aspect of Ellington's stiffest competition, the Benny Goodman band. Nicknamed "steel lips," Griffin is one of those trumpeters who got the part with the high notes and can be sampled on a pile of recordings that if secured atop each other might seem to be heading for some of the pitches Griffin hit, at least symbolically.
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