Billy May
The last of the great arrangers who wrote regularly for Frank Sinatra, Billy May had several varied careers in and out of jazz. His first notable gig was as an arranger/trumpeter with Charlie Barnet (1938-1940), for whom he wrote the wah-wah-ing hit arrangement of Ray Noble's "Cherokee." Later, he worked in the same capacities for Glenn Miller (1940-1942) and Les Brown (1942) before settling into staff jobs, first at NBC studios, then at Capitol Records, where he led his own studio big band from 1951 to 1954. His arrangements for Sinatra, beginning with Come Fly With Me (1957) and ending with Trilogy (1979), are often in a walloping, brassy, even taunting swing mode, generating some of the singer's most swaggering vocals. May also did extensive scoring for television, film, and commercials. Although May was largely inactive in the '80s and '90s , he unexpectedly surfaced in 1996 with some typically bright big band charts for comic Stan Freberg's The United States of America, Vol. 2 (Rhino), 25 years after his contributions to Vol. 1. The veteran arranger died quietly at home on January 22, 2004 at the age of 87.
© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo
Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Jimmie Lunceford In Hi-Fi
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Jan 1, 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandes Orquestas, Billy May
Jazz - Released by Sotelysa Digital on Oct 27, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Band Is Born
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Jan 1, 1952
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Billy May Plays The Standards
Lounge - Released by EMI Catalogue on Jan 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bill's Bag
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Apr 21, 1963
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best Of "The Capitol Years"
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Mar 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billy May's Big Fat Brass
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Sep 12, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Big Band Bash!
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Naughty Operetta!
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Jul 5, 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Plays For Fancy Dancin'
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Jan 1, 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Girls And Boys On Broadway
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Dec 17, 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Trumpet of Billy May (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by Master Tape Records on Oct 4, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sorta-May
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on May 7, 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Sweetest Swingin' Sounds Of No Strings
Jazz - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on Jan 1, 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Essential Jazz Masters
Jazz - Released by Master Classics Records on May 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Harp with a Beat
Jazz - Released by HIFI Records on Feb 27, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Big Band Classics
Les Brown, Billy May, Billy May & His Orchestra
Pop - Released by Intersound on Sep 30, 2002
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
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The Green Hornet: Theme from the Television Series (Billy May) Single
Dominik Hauser, Chris Tedesco, Roy Wiegand
Soundtracks - Released by BSX Records on Jul 5, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo