The first major French jazz trumpeter, Philippe Brun was one of the finest trumpeters in any country in the late 1930's. Although he originally studied violin, Brun was largely self-taught on the trumpet. He began to record and get some notice in 1929 and during the next decade he worked with Gregor, Danny Polo, Ray Ventura's Collegians, Jack Hylton (in London), Bert Ambrose, Django Reinhardt and Alix Combelle among others. During 1941-44, Brun was fortunate enough to escape to neutral Switzerland where he played music with Andre Ekyan, Teddy Stauffer and Eddie Brunner. In the post war years, Brun generally led his own bands but strangely enough, other than three songs cut under a different name in 1954, all of his recordings as a leader (which were made for Pathe, Swing and Elite Special labels) were from the 1937-44 period. Philippe Brun never played in the United States. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi