Billy May

This article is about the American musician. For the English footballer, seeBilly May (footballer).For the synchronized swimmer, seeBill May (synchronized swimmer).For the pitchman, seeBilly Mays.

Billy May
Background information
Birth name	Edward William May Jr.
Born	(1916-11-10)November 10, 1916 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,U.S.
Died	January 22, 2004(2004-01-22)(aged 87) San Juan Capistrano, California,U.S.
Genres	Big band
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, arranger
Instrument	Trumpet

Edward William May Jr.(November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music forThe Green Hornet(1966),The Mod Squad(1968),Batman(withBatgirltheme, 1967),andNaked City(1960). He collaborated on films such asPennies from Heaven(1981), and orchestratedCocoon,andCocoon: The Return,among others.

May wrote arrangements for many top singers, includingFrank Sinatra,Yma Sumac,Nat King Cole,Anita O'Day,Peggy Lee,Vic Damone,Bobby Darin,Johnny Mercer,Ella Fitzgerald,Louis Prima,Keely Smith,Jack Jones,Bing Crosby,Sandler and Young,Nancy Wilson,Rosemary Clooney,The Andrews SistersandElla Mae Morse.He also collaborated with satiristStan Frebergon several classic 1950s and 1960s comedy music albums.

As a trumpet player in the 1940sBig Band era,May recorded such songs as "Measure for Measure", "Long Tall Mama", and "Boom Shot",with Glenn Miller and His Orchestra,and "The Wrong Idea", "Lumby", and "Wings Over Manhattan" withCharlie Barnetand His Orchestra.With his own band, he had a hit single, "Charmaine".In the 1950s he released several successful albums of his unique orchestral arrangements and compositions, includingSorta-MayandSorta-Dixie.

Early life and music

May was born inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.He started out playing the tuba in the high school band. "I sat in the rear of the stand," he said. "I didn't realize it at the time, but I was intrigued with becoming an arranger and an orchestrator."At the age of 17, he began playing with Gene Olsen's Polish-American Orchestra.

Swing Era, Big Bands

May moved to New York City at age 22 to become chief arranger for theCharlie BarnetOrchestra. He held this position from February 1939 until October 1940, and joined its trumpet section in June 1939.May's contract with Barnet called for writing at extraordinary speed: four new arrangements per week, about 70 of which were recorded and commercially released by RCA Victor on theBluebirdlabel. May arranged some of Barnet's best-selling records, including “Pompton Turnpike” and “Leapin’ at the Lincoln,” but it was May’s now-classic arrangement of Ray Noble's "Cherokee"that launched Barnet and his band to national stardom.

At Barnet’s request, May closely studied the musical language of Barnet’s idol,Duke Ellington.May soon developed a harmonic and sonic palette rich with Ellingtonian colors. The Ellington influence is apparent in some of May’s arrangements of new pop songs including "Danger in the Dark" and “Strange Enchantment.” They are on full display in May's arrangements of Ellington's own compositions, particularly “The Sergeant Was Shy,” “Ring Dem Bells,” and “Rockin’ in Rhythm.”Ellington even reciprocated the musical respect by recording his own arrangement of “In a Mizz,”a Charlie Barnet original arranged by May in June 1939.

May's first recorded serious composition for jazz orchestra wasWings Over Manhattan,a three-part suite celebrating the "aviation" theme of the1939-1940 New York World's Fairfor which it was written. It is also a musical salute to Ellington, showing the influence of Ellington's longer-form works likeReminiscing in TempoandSymphony in Black.Composer/historian Gunther Schuller felt that by age 23, Billy May's command of Ellington's compositional language had become so convincing that “the ‘disciple’ could hardly be distinguished from the ‘master’.”

May’s sense of musical humor—which would later become one of the hallmarks of his sound— began to gradually take shape with the Charlie Barnet Orchestra, as evident in his arrangements of novelty numbers like “Six Lessons From Madame La Zonga.” May's earliest recorded musical parody—a comedic skill he would later master with comedianStan Freberg—was “The Wrong Idea,” an original song by May and Barnet, with syrupy vocal and comically bad trumpet soloing by May (whom Barnet introduces as “Slappy Habits” ). Barnet called “The Wrong Idea” a "flagrant burlesque" of the best-selling “sweet” bands of the day led by Kay Kyser andSammy Kaye,whose motto “Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye” becomes “Swing and Sweat with Charlie Barnet” when May sings it.

May and Barnet remained close throughout their lives, and May arranged another 36 titles for the Barnet Orchestra between 1954 and 1970.

The original manuscript scores, and some original band parts, for about 80 of May's arrangements for Barnet are now housed at the Music Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where they are open to the public for research.Many others were destroyed in the 1939 fire at thePalomar Ballroomin Los Angeles.

BandleaderGlenn Millerhired May away from Barnet in 1940. "May points out that he was not responsible for any of the [Glenn Miller] band's signature hits, but he did write the beautiful left-field introduction to [Bill] Finegan's [arrangement of] 'Serenade In Blue'".

Miller and May had a wary relationship. According to Will Friedwald, by 1942 May was ready to resign from the Miller band. Miller refused to record half of May's arrangements, and May objected to Miller's regimented style. But since Miller was joining the military, he convinced May to stay on until the band broke up. May finally said around 1995, after a life of heavy drinking and rehabilitation for alcoholism, that working with Miller "helped me immensely. I learned a lot from Glenn. He was a good musician and an excellent arranger."

Later career

When the Big Bands ended in the late 1940s, May relocated to Los Angeles, where he became a much-coveted arranger and studio orchestra leader, working for top recording stars of the day including Frank Sinatra,Rosemary Clooney,Anita O'Day and Bing Crosby.

With Capitol Records

At Capitol, May wrote arrangements for many top artists.These includedFrank Sinatraon the albumsCome Fly with Me(1958),Come Dance with Me!(1959) andCome Swing with Me!(1961);Nat King Coleon the albumsJust One of Those ThingsandLet's Face the Music!,as well as numerous singles (all his work with Cole being packaged later on the 2-CD setThe Billy May Sessions);Peggy Leeon the albumsPretty EyesandChristmas Carousel;Sue Raneyon her second albumSongs for a Raney Day;Vic Damoneon the albumsThe Lively OnesandStrange Enchantment;Jeri Southernon the albumJeri Southern Meets Cole Porter;Keely Smithon the albumPolitelyand on a duet single, "Nothing In Common" / "How Are Ya Fixed For Love?", with Sinatra;Bobby Darinon the albumOh! Look at Me Now;Nancy Wilsonon the albumsLike In Love,Something Wonderful,Tender Loving Care,Nancy - Naturally!and various tracks from the albumsJust For NowandLush Life;Matt Monroon several tracks from the albumsInvitation to the Movies,Invitation to Broadway,andThese Years;Bing CrosbyandRosemary Clooneyon the albumsThat Travelin' Two-BeatandFancy Meeting You Here;and SirGeorge Shearingon the albumsSatin AffairandBurnished Brass,co-arranged with Shearing (May also conducted Shearing's albumConcerto for My Love,on which Shearing had sole credit for the arrangements).

May's orchestra was featured on many Capitol Records children's projects, including cowboy star,Hopalong Cassidy.He worked closely with early 1950s satiristStan Freberg,using his arranging skills to help Freberg create his spoofs of current hits by creating musical backing often stunningly close to the original hit single.

On Freberg'sWun'erful, Wun'erful!a lacerating spoof of bandleaderLawrence Welk,May hired some of Hollywood's best jazz musicians, who relished the idea of mocking the financially successful but musically medocre Welk sound, which they considered the epitome of "square". The result was a note-perfect recreation of Welk's sound as Freberg and a group of vocalists performed parodies of Welk's "musical family". Freberg recounted that Welk was less than amused by the recording.

May also composed and conducted the music for Freberg's short-lived comedy radio series onCBS,which ran for 15 episodes in 1957. His sendup of trashy horror-film music ( "Gray Flannel Hat Full of Teenage Werewolves" ) is notable.

May won twoGrammy Awards,includingBest Performance by an Orchestrain 1958 and Best Arrangement in 1959.Much of his work for Capitol has been reissued on theUltra-LoungeCD series.

In the late 1960s into the early 1970s, May conducted many recreations of big band era classics, recorded by Capitol. May transcribed note for note from the original recordings of big band legends such as Charlie Barnet, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and others and then conducted a group of all-star veteran musicians on the sessions, including some of the original performers such as singers Helen Forrest, Helen Ward and Tex Beneke. The Time-Life label released these as boxed sets titled as "The Swing Era," whose marketing was focused on the fact that these high-fidelity stereo recordings allowed listeners to enjoy the music with a depth and realism that the 78 rpm recordings of that era had never been able to fully capture.

Other record labels

The Crosby-Clooney collaboration was a sequel to their earlier, more successful album on RCA Victor,Fancy Meeting You Here,also arranged by May, whose other non-Capitol work included another Bing Crosby duet album, this time withLouis Armstrong,entitledBing & Satchmo;a further duet album twinningBobby DarinwithJohnny Mercer(Two of a Kind); the sixth inElla Fitzgerald's acclaimed series ofSong BooksforVerve Records,Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook;similar dips intoCole PorterandRodgers and HartwithAnita O'Day(Anita O'Day Swings Cole Porter with Billy MayandAnita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart;both on Verve);Mel Tormé's Latin-flavoured album (¡Olé Tormé!: Mel Tormé Goes South of the Border with Billy May);Jane Russell's self-titled album onMGM Recordsin 1958; early albums byJack Jones(Shall We Dance?) andPetula Clark(In Hollywood); one solitary session withSarah VaughanforRoulette Recordsin 1960, to record the single "The Green Leaves of Summer"and three other tracks. May arranged and conductedOnce More with Feeling,a 1960 studio album by singerBilly Eckstineon Roulette.

May also arranged and recorded one album in Cleveland with Cosmic Records;Guess Whofor artist Jerry Lee (Jerry Principe) at the Golden Key Club; and two more albums withKeely Smith,recorded nearly 40 years apart:CheroKeely Swingsfrom 1962; andKeely Sings Sinatra,one of May's last projects, from 2001.

After Sinatra left Capitol to start his own label,Reprise Records,May continued to provide arrangements for him, off and on, for nearly thirty more years, working on the albumsSinatra Swings,Francis A. & Edward K.(withDuke Ellington) andTrilogy 1: The Past,as well as the chart for one of Sinatra's last ever solo recordings, "Cry Me a River"(1988).

May arranged Sinatra's knockabout duet withSammy Davis Jr.,"Me and My Shadow",which was a hit single on both sides of the Atlantic in 1962, while he contributed to Sinatra's ambitious"Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre"project, providing a few arrangements for three of its four albums,South Pacific,Kiss Me, KateandGuys and Dolls,May's charts being variously performed by Sinatra, Davis, Crosby,Dean Martin,Jo StaffordandLou Monteand yielding a perennial Sinatra concert favourite, "Luck Be a Lady"fromGuys and Dolls.

In 1958, May arranged a Christmas album onWarner Bros. RecordsfeaturingThe Jimmy Joyce Singers,titledA Christmas to Remember.In 1983, May arranged the song "He Came Here For Me" forthe Carpenters'An Old-Fashioned Christmasalbum on A&M Records.

Musical style

May's charts often featured brisk tempos and intricate brass parts. One distinctive feature is his frequent use of trumpet mute devices. Another was a saxophone glissando, widely known as his "slurping saxes". In slower tempos, he sometimes utilized string sections; good examples of this aspect of his work include his brass chart for "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)"on the Cole albumJust One of Those Things;his string arrangement of "April in Paris"on Sinatra'sCome Fly With Mealbum; and his arrangement of "I Can't Get Started"on Keely Smith'sPolitely,which includes a nod to May in the lyrics ( "Billy May arranged this for me" ).

Film and television

May can be seen on trumpet with the Glenn Miller Orchestra inSun Valley Serenade(1941), including a solo in "In the Mood,"andOrchestra Wives(1942).

In 1957, May made his debut as film composer withJane Russell'sThe Fuzzy Pink Nightgownand the soundtrack was released on Imperial Records. His film scores include theRat PackfilmSergeants 3(1962),Johnny Cool(1963),Tony Rome(1967),The Secret Life of an American Wife(1968),The Ballad of Andy Crocker(1969), andThe Front Page(1974) and several big band arrangements used in the 1991 Disney film,The RocketeerincludingMelora HardinperformingCole Porter's "Begin the Beguine".

His compositions for television include "Somewhere in the Night", the theme forNaked City(1960), and his jazzy arrangement of "Flight of the Bumblebee"forThe Green Hornet(1966) with trumpet byAl Hirt.He composed the Batgirl theme forBatman(1966). He and Nelson Riddle wrote music for episodes ofNaked City(1960),Batman(1966),The Green Hornet(1966),Emergency!(1972), andCHiPs(1977).

May also arranged and produced the song "River of No Return" forTennessee Ernie Fordfor the 1954film of the same namestarringMarilyn MonroeandRobert Mitchum.Billy May and His Orchestra are also credited as playing themselves in the filmNightmare(1956), starringEdward G. Robinson,and May as music and vocal arranger of music byHerschel Burke Gilbert,who was the musical director.

Compositions

May's compositions included "Long Tall Mama" and "Measure for Measure", recorded with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, "Boom Shot",written with Miller (May's wife Arletta originally received credit as co-author in his place)for the soundtrack of the 1942 movieOrchestra Wives,"Harlem Chapel Bells", which was performed with Glenn Miller and his Orchestra on April 2, 1941, and broadcast on theChesterfieldMoonlight Serenaderadio program, "Lean Baby", "Fat Man Boogie", "Ping Pong", "Jooms Jones", "Gabby Goose", "Lumby", "Daisy Mae" and "Friday Afternoon" withHal McIntyre,"Miles Behind", "The Wrong Idea" with Charlie Barnet, "Wings Over Manhattan", "Filet of Soul", "Mayhem", "Gin and Tonic", and "Solving the Riddle".

But his biggest hit as a composer was the children's song "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat",which he recorded withMel Blancin 1950.

Another arrangement, "Be My Host", served as the winner's fanfare onThe Newlywed Gameand was played after host Bob Eubanks announced the winning couple.

Selected recordings

May arranged and conducted for many prominent singers. This list highlights some of his recordings that focused on his own bands, compositions and arrangements.

Singles

• 1952: "Charmaine" (Capitol 1919) charted for two weeks, peaked at No. 17
• 1954: "Don't Worry 'Bout Me"(Capitol F2787) reached No. 17 in the Billboard charts that year. Although Nelson Riddle conducted the session, Sinatra cites Billy May as the arranger during a May 1978 performance in Las Vegas.
• 1956:"Main title fromThe Man With the Golden Arm"(Capitol 3372) charted for fourteen weeks, peaked at No. 49;andUKNo. 9

Albums

• 1948Join the Band
• 1952A Band Is Born
• 1952A Big Band Bash
• 1953Billy May's Bacchanalia
• 1954Sorta-Dixie
• 1955Sorta-May
• 1955Naughty Operetta
• 1955Arthur Murray Cha Cha Mambos
• 1957Jimmy Lunceford in Hi-Fi
• 1957Plays for Fancy Dancin'
• 1958Billy May's Big Fat Brass
• 1960Cha Cha! Billy May
• 1960The Girls and Boys on Broadway
• 1962The Sweetest Swingin' Sounds of Billy May
• 1962Process 70
• 1963Bill's Bag
• 1966Billy May Today!

The Complete Billy May Sessions Personnel

The Billy May Sessions were included into the Nat "King" Cole's album called the same way.

With the help of Billy May's orchestra, all 43 of Nat King Cole's studio recordings, including two duets with Dean Martin and a repeat of "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" from 1961, are presented here for the first time as a single collection.

Personnel:

Harry "Sweets" Edison - Trumpet Pete Candoli - Trumpet Buddy Collette, Plas Johnson, Ted Nash, Willie Smith - Woodwinds Section Jimmy Rowles - Piano Johnny Collins - Guitar Charlie Harris - Bass Lee Young - Drums

Bibliography

• Mirtle, Jack (1998).The Music of Billy May: A Discography.Greenwood Press.ISBN978-0-313-30739-3.

https:// jazzmessengers /en/73986/nat-king-cole/the-complete-billy-may-sessions#:~:text=The%20Complete%20Billy%20May%20Sessions%20(EJC%2055720)&text=Harry%20%E2%80%9CSweets%E2%80%9D%20Edison%2C%20Pete,Hollywood%2C%20between%201951%20and%201961.

External links

• Billy May profileat Allmusic
• National Association of Music Merchants Oral History Interview with Billy May,namm.org, April 4, 2002
• Billy May arrangements, 1939-1995at theLibrary of Congress