Jazz
Billy May - Arranger, Conductor
Al Hendrickson - Guitar
Alvin Stoller - Drums
Clarence Karella - Tuba
Conrad Gozzo - Trumpet
Eddie Kusby - Trombone
Frank Beach - Trumpet
George Roberts - Trombone (Bass)
Jack Cave - French Horn
Jim Decker - French Horn
Joe Mondragon - Bass
John Best - Trumpet
Lou Singer - Percussion
Manny Klein - Trumpet
Paul Smith - Piano
Pete Candoli - Trumpet
Ralph Hansell - Percussion
Red Callender - Tuba
Richard Perissi - French Horn
Si Zentner - Trombone
Tommy Pederson - Trombone
Uan Rasey - Trumpet
Vincent DeRosa - French Horn
* Dave Cavanaugh - Producer
* Hugh Davies - Engineer
* John Kraus - Engineer
* Peter Abbott - Engineer
* Tom Morgan - Producer
Brass jazzman Billy May sees his 1958 and 1963 LPs get the two-fer treatment on this 2001 CD release from EMI.
---Chris True, All Music Guide
Billy May
Active Decades: '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s and '90s
Born: Nov 10, 1916 in Pittsburgh, PA
Died: Jan 22, 2004 in San Juan Capistrano, CA
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Big Band, Orchestral Pop, Instrumental Pop, Swing, Traditional Pop
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, All Music Guide |
