Billy Butterfield (January 14, 1917 in
Middleton, OhioMiddleton is the name of two places in the U.S. state of Ohio:*Middleton, Columbiana County, Ohio*Middleton, Hocking County, Ohio...
– March 18, 1988) was a band leader, jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist.
He studied cornet with Frank Simons, but later switched to studying medicine. He did not give up on music and quit medicine after finding success as a trumpeter. Early in his career he played in the band of
Austin WylieAustin Wylie was an American jazz bandleader.Wylie led a dance band in the 1920s and early 1930s which operated as a territory band based out of Cleveland, Ohio, though he also broadcast on national radio. The band was sometimes billed as the Golden Pheasant Orchestra...
. He gained attention working with
Bob CrosbyBob Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group Crosby and the Bob-Cats.-Family:...
(1937-1940), and later worked with
Artie ShawArthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader...
,
Les BrownLes Brown, Sr. and the Band of Renown are a big band that began in the late 1930s, initially as the group Les Brown and His Blue Devils that Brown led while a student at Duke University...
, and
Benny GoodmanBenjamin David Goodman was an American jazz musician, clarinetist and bandleader, known as "King of Swing", "Patriarch of the Clarinet", "The Professor", and "Swing's Senior Statesman"....
.
Billy Butterfield (January 14, 1917 in
Middleton, OhioMiddleton is the name of two places in the U.S. state of Ohio:*Middleton, Columbiana County, Ohio*Middleton, Hocking County, Ohio...
– March 18, 1988) was a band leader, jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist.
He studied cornet with Frank Simons, but later switched to studying medicine. He did not give up on music and quit medicine after finding success as a trumpeter. Early in his career he played in the band of
Austin WylieAustin Wylie was an American jazz bandleader.Wylie led a dance band in the 1920s and early 1930s which operated as a territory band based out of Cleveland, Ohio, though he also broadcast on national radio. The band was sometimes billed as the Golden Pheasant Orchestra...
. He gained attention working with
Bob CrosbyBob Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group Crosby and the Bob-Cats.-Family:...
(1937-1940), and later worked with
Artie ShawArthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader...
,
Les BrownLes Brown, Sr. and the Band of Renown are a big band that began in the late 1930s, initially as the group Les Brown and His Blue Devils that Brown led while a student at Duke University...
, and
Benny GoodmanBenjamin David Goodman was an American jazz musician, clarinetist and bandleader, known as "King of Swing", "Patriarch of the Clarinet", "The Professor", and "Swing's Senior Statesman"....
. On October 7, 1940, during his brief stay with Artie Shaw's orchestra, he performed what has been described as a "legendary trumpet solo" on the hit song "
Stardust"Stardust" is an American popular song composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics added in 1929 by Mitchell Parish.-Composition:"Stardust"...
." Between 1943 and 1947, taking a break to serve in Uncle Sam's army, Billy led his own orchestra. On September 20, 1944,
CapitolCapitol Records is a major United States-based record label owned by EMI and located in Los Angeles and New York City as part of Capitol Music Group...
recorded the
jazz standardJazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
"
Moonlight In Vermont"Moonlight in Vermont" is a popular song about the U.S. state of Vermont, written by John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf and published in 1943.The lyrics are very unusual for an American pop song of the 1940s, because they do not rhyme and are impersonal, focusing mostly on the sensory appeal of the...
", which featured a vocal by
Margaret WhitingMargaret Whiting is a singer of American popular music who first made her reputation during the 1940s and 1950s....
and a trumpet solo by Billy. The liner notes from the CD
Capitol From The Vaults, Volume 2, "Vine Street Divas" indicate that, although 'Billy Butterfield & His Orchestra' were credited with the song, it was really the Les Brown band recording under the name of Billy Butterfield because Brown was under contract to another label at the time. He recorded two albuns with
Ray ConniffJoseph Raymond Conniff was an American musician. He was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and learned to play the trombone from his father. He studied music arranging from a course book.After serving in the U.S...
in the 50s.Billy was a member of the World's Greatest Jazz Band led by
Yank LawsonJohn Rhea "Yank" Lawson was a jazz trumpeter known for Dixieland and also some swing music....
and
Bob HaggartRobert Sherwood Haggart was a dixieland jazz double bass player, composer and arranger....
from the late 1960's until his death in 1988. He also freelanced as a guest star with many bands all over the world, and performed at many Jazz festivals, including the Manassas Jazz Festival and Dick Gibson's Bash in Colorado.
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