Sam Butera
Sam Butera spent much of his career leading Louis Prima's band, but he continued in music long after Prima's death, and became familiar with sounds and styles far beyond Prima's brand of New Orleans jazz. A rock, R&B, and jazz legend, Butera is a towering crossover figure at the saxophone and as a bandleader.
He was born in New Orleans to Italian-American parents. His father Joseph owned a butcher shop in a Black section of the city, and played the guitar and the concertina in his spare time. At a wedding he was taken to at age seven, Sam Butera first saw and heard a saxophone, and, with his father's blessings, started taking lessons. He studied the clarinet at school but eventually returned to the sax, and at age 18 was featured in Look magazine (Life magazine's major competitor) as one of the top young jazzmen in the country. He got a gig with Ray MicKinley right out of high school, and also played with Tommy Dorsey and Joe Reichman's bands. His major influences in those years included Charlie Ventura, Lester Young, Gene Ammons, Charlie Parker, and Big Jay McNeely, and he seemed to gravitate naturally toward swing and bebop. Ultimately, however, the biggest influence on his playing was Lee Allen, a member of Paul Gayten's band, with which he frequently played.
Butera formed his own group -- inspired by Gayten's band -- after returning to New Orleans, and they quickly began a four-year engagement at The 500 Club, which was owned by Louis Prima's brother. His sound reflected a vast range of influences, including modern jazz and R&B, and in 1951 Butera cut a pair of raunchy R&B instrumental sides that might have figured in the early history of white rock & roll if only they'd been released in time. He also had a featured spot in a Woody Herman concert that yielded both a chance for a new tour and a recording contract with RCA. The resulting sessions in the fall of 1953 gave Butera a chance to rock out in an alternately soft and sweet, or hard and playful manner. There weren't any significant sales, but RCA had him back in early 1954 for a series of sessions for its R&B-oriented Groove label (home of Piano Red, among others), and his version of "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" was a modest regional hit.
He played some R&B shows, including a celebrated tour as part of Alan Freed's first East Coast rock & roll showcase, and Butera's loud, wild sax sound won him an enthusiastic following. By 1955, however, he was back doing jazz with Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Bellson. He finally hooked up with Louis Prima and spent the next 20 years leading his band, the Witnesses. Butera's own record releases were cut short, with only a handful of his Groove sides (including a vocal performance "Giddyap Baby") ever issued at the time.
Butera worked for Prima for the next 20 years, and in the mid-'70s, he re-emerged as a performer in his own right.
© Bruce Eder /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Capitol Collectors Series
Sam Butera, Keely Smith, Louis Prima
Jazz - Released by Capitol Records on 1 jan. 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Big Sax And The Big Voice Of Sam Butera
Jazz - Released by Blue Note Records on 1 mrt. 1961
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Doin' the Twist with Louis Prima
Rock - Released by Music Manager on 9 aug. 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Louis Prima Presents: The Wildest Clan / Apache!
Jazz - Released by Jasmine Records on 20 apr. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Call Of The Wildest (Expanded Edition)
Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Sam Butera
Jazz - Released by Capitol Records on 1 mei 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Mono Version)
Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Sam Butera
Jazz - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (Expanded Edition)
Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Sam Butera
Jazz - Released by Capitol Records on 1 jun. 1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Wildest Comes Home (Expanded Edition)
Pop - Released by Capitol Records on 1 jun. 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Wildest Show At Lake Tahoe
Louis Prima, Sam Butera, Keely Smith
Jazz - Released by Capitol Records on 1 jan. 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strictly Prima!
Jazz - Released by Capitol Records on 13 jun. 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wild, Cool & Swingin'
Pop - Released by Capitol Records on 1 jan. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Big Horn
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on 1 okt. 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lake Tahoe Prima Style
Louis Prima, Sam Butera, Gia Maione
Pop - Released by Capitol Records on 6 jan. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
When The Feeling Hits You! Featuring Sam Butera & The Witnesses
Pop - Released by Rhino - Warner Records on 1 jan. 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Louis Prima Sound
Klassiek - Released by Vintage Masters Inc. on 1 aug. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
The Wildest Comes Home (Original Album Plus Bonus Tracks 1962)
Pop - Released by Buona Sera on 1 jan. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Anthology: The Deluxe Collection (Remastered)
Pop - Released by Master Tape Records on 25 sep. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tenor Sax Great
Country - Released by Union Music Sales on 18 mrt. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody (Medley/Live On The Ed Sullivan Show, May 17, 1959)
Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Sam Butera
Jazz - Released by SOFA - AV Catalog DD on 1 jan. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Continental Twist
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on 1 okt. 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo