Billy May
Encyclopedia
William E. "Billy" May (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American
composer
, arranger
and trumpeter. He composed film and television music, for The Green Hornet
(1966), Batman
(with Batgirl
theme, 1967), and Naked City
(1960) and collaborated on films, such as Pennies from Heaven
(1981), and orchestrated Cocoon
, and Cocoon: The Return
among others.
May also wrote arrangements for many top singers, including Frank Sinatra
, Nat "King" Cole, Peggy Lee
, Vic Damone
, Bobby Darin
, Johnny Mercer
, Ella Fitzgerald
, Jack Jones
, Bing Crosby
, Sandler and Young
, Nancy Wilson, Rosemary Clooney
and Ella Mae Morse
.
As a trumpet player, during the 1940s big-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" with Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra. With his own band, he had a hit single, "Charmaine" and released an album, Sorta-May.
. He started out playing the tuba in the high school band. "I sat in the rear of the stand. [...] . I didn't realize it at the time , but I was intrigued with becoming an arranger and an orchestrator." At the age of seventeen May began playing with Gene Olsen's Polish-American Orchestra. After playing for a few local bands, May heard Charlie Barnet's band on the radio in his hometown of Pittsburgh. May approached the bandleader and asked if he could write arrangements for the band. This happened in the summer of 1938. From 1938 to 1940, May wrote arrangements and played trumpet for Charlie Barnet's big band. His arrangement of the Ray Noble
composition "Cherokee
" became a major hit of the swing music era. During the Barnet days, May revealed a significant flair for satire on a composition titled "The Wrong Idea", composed with Charlie Barnet, that ridiculed the bland "Mickey Mouse" style of safe big band music with specific musical mockery of bandleader Sammy Kaye
, known for his "swing and sway" trademark. May's caustic lyrics to the song called it "swing and sweat with Charlie Barnet". Bandleader Glenn Miller hired May away from Charlie 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'."
May worked as an arranger for the bands of Glenn Miller
and Les Brown
before being hired as staff arranger first for the NBC
radio network
, then for Capitol Records
.
on the albums Come Fly With Me, Come Dance with Me! and Come Swing With Me
; Nat King Cole
on the albums Just One Of Those Things and Let's Face the Music!
, as well as numerous singles (all his work with Cole being packaged later on the 2CD set The Billy May Sessions); Stan Freberg
, with whom he was a longtime collaborator, featuring on many of the artist's comedy recordings; Peggy Lee
on the album Pretty Eyes
; Sue Raney
on her second album Songs for a Raney Day; Vic Damone
on the albums The Lively Ones
and Strange Enchantment; Jeri Southern
on the album Jeri Southern Meets Cole Porter; Keely Smith
on the album Politely and on a duet single, "Nothing In Common"/"How Are Ya Fixed For Love?", with Sinatra; Bobby Darin
on the album Oh! Look at Me Now
; Nancy Wilson on the albums Like In Love, Something Wonderful
, Tender Loving Care, Nancy - Naturally! and various tracks from the albums Just For Now and Lush Life; Matt Monro
on several tracks from the albums Invitation to the Movies, Invitation to Broadway, and These Years; Bing Crosby
and Rosemary Clooney
on the albums That Travelin' Two-Beat
and Fancy Meeting You Here; and Sir George Shearing
on the albums Satin Affair and Burnished Brass, co-arranged with Shearing (May also conducted Shearing's album Concerto For My Love, on which Shearing had sole credit for the arrangements).
Additionally, May's orchestra was featured on many Capitol Records children's projects. He also worked closely with early 1950s satirist Stan 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's Wun'erful, Wun'erful! a lacerating spoof of bandleader Lawrence Welk
, May hired some of the best jazz musicians in Hollywood for his recording sessions, and they relished the idea of mocking the financially successful Welk sound, which they considered musically awful. The result was a note-perfect recreation of Welk's sound as Freberg and a group of vocalists created parodies of Welk's musical family. Freberg has recounted that Welk was less than amused by the results, which he could not have achieved without May.
May also composed and conducted the music for Freberg's short-lived comedy radio series on CBS, which ran for fifteen episodes in 1957.
In 1959, May won the Grammy Award
for Best Performance by an Orchestra
.
Much of May's work for Capitol has been reissued on the Ultra-Lounge series of CDs.
, also arranged by May.
May’s other non-Capitol work included another Bing Crosby duet album, this time with Louis Armstrong
, entitled Bing & Satchmo; a further duet album twinning Bobby Darin
with Johnny Mercer
, called Two Of A Kind
; the sixth in Ella Fitzgerald
's acclaimed series of Song Books
for Verve Records
, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook
; a similar dip into the Rodgers and Hart
opus with Anita O'Day
, entitled Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart
; Mel Tormé
’s Latin-flavoured album ¡Olé Tormé!: Mel Tormé Goes South of the Border with Billy May
; early albums by Jack Jones
(Shall We Dance?) and Petula Clark
(In Hollywood); one solitary session with Sarah Vaughan
for Roulette Records
in 1960, to record the single The Green Leaves of Summer and three other tracks; and two more albums with Keely Smith
, recorded nearly forty years apart – CheroKeely Swings from 1962 and Keely Sings Sinatra, one of May’s last pieces of work, 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 albums Sinatra Swings
, Francis A. & Edward K.
(with Duke Ellington
) and Trilogy 1: The Past
, as well as the chart for what is thought to be Sinatra's last ever solo recording, "Cry Me a River" (1988), which was eventually released on the 20 CD Box Set Frank Sinatra - The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings. In addition, May was the natural choice to arrange Sinatra's knockabout duet with Sammy Davis Jr., Me And My Shadow
, which was a hit single on both sides of the Atlantic in 1962, whilst he also contributed to Sinatra's ambitious "Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre
" project, providing a few arrangements for three of its four albums, South Pacific
, Kiss Me, Kate
and Guys and Dolls, May's charts being variously performed by Sinatra, Davis, Crosby, Dean Martin
, Jo Stafford
and Lou Monte
and yielding a perennial Sinatra concert favourite, "Luck Be A Lady" from Guys and Dolls.
In 1958, May arranged a holiday album on Warner Bros. Records
featuring the Jimmy Joyce Singers, titled A Christmas to Remember.
" on the Cole album Just One of Those Things and his string arrangement of "April in Paris
" on Sinatra's Come Fly With Me album.
(1960) television series, and his jazz
style re-arrangement of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
's Flight of the Bumblebee
, which was the theme music for The Green Hornet
(1966) television series, which featured a trumpet performance by Al Hirt
. May also composed the music for the "Batgirl
Theme" song, which was used in the Batman
(1966) television series when the Batgirl
character was added to the cast in 1967. Along with Nelson Riddle
, he was also involved in scoring episodes of Naked City
(1960), Batman
(1966), The Green Hornet
(1966), and Emergency!
(1972). May also composed the score for the Rat Pack
film Sergeants 3 (1962).
, "Harlem Chapel Bells", which was performed with Glenn Miller and his Orchestra on April 2, 1941 and broadcast on the Chesterfield Moonlight Serenade radio program on CBS, "Lean Baby", "Fat Man Boogie", "Ping Pong", "Jooms Jones", "Gabby Goose", "Lumby", "Daisy Mae" and "Friday Afternoon" with Hal 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 with Mel Blanc
in 1950.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
and trumpeter. He composed film and television music, for The Green Hornet
The Green Hornet (TV series)
The Green Hornet is a television show on the ABC US television network. It aired for the 1966–1967 TV season, and starred Van Williams as the Green Hornet/Britt Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato.- Episodes:...
(1966), Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
(with Batgirl
Batgirl
Batgirl is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, frequently depicted as female counterparts to the superhero Batman...
theme, 1967), and Naked City
Naked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
(1960) and collaborated on films, such as Pennies from Heaven
Pennies from Heaven (1981 film)
Pennies from Heaven is a 1981 musical film. The film was based on a 1978 BBC television drama. In 1981, Dennis Potter adapted his own screenplay for a film of the same name for American audiences, with its setting changed to Depression era Chicago. Potter was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award...
(1981), and orchestrated Cocoon
Cocoon (film)
The score for Cocoon was composed and conducted by James Horner. The soundtrack was released twice, through Polydor Records in 1985 and a reprint through P.E.G. in 1997 and features eleven tracks of score and a vocal track performed by Michael Sembello...
, and Cocoon: The Return
Cocoon: The Return
Cocoon: The Return is a 1988 science fiction film that is the sequel to the 1985 film Cocoon. All of the starring actors from the first film reprised their roles in this film, although Brian Dennehy only appears in one scene at the end of the film...
among others.
May also wrote arrangements for many top singers, including Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Nat "King" Cole, Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
, Vic Damone
Vic Damone
Vic Damone is an American singer and entertainer.- Early life :Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York to French-Italian immigrants based in Bari, Italy—Rocco and Mamie Farinola. His father was an electrician; and his mother taught piano. His cousin was the actress and singer...
, Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
, Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, Jack Jones
Jack Jones (singer)
John Allan "Jack" Jones is an American jazz and pop singer. He was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1960s.-Overview:...
, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Sandler and Young
Sandler and Young
Sandler and Young were a popular singing team from the 1960s through the 1980s, composed of Belgian-born Tony Sandler and native New Yorker Ralph Young....
, Nancy Wilson, Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
and Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse , was an American popular singer. Morse blended jazz, country, pop, and R&B.-Career:Morse was born in Mansfield, Texas, United States. She was hired by Jimmy Dorsey when she was 14 years old. Dorsey believed she was 19, and when he was informed by the school board that he was now...
.
As a trumpet player, during the 1940s big-band era
Big Bad
Big Bad is a term originally used by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series to describe a major recurring adversary, usually the chief villain or antagonist in a particular broadcast season...
, May recorded such songs as "Measure for Measure", "Long Tall Mama", and "Boom Shot", with Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
, and "The Wrong Idea", "Lumby", and "Wings Over Manhattan" with Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra. With his own band, he had a hit single, "Charmaine" and released an album, Sorta-May.
Early life
May was born in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. He started out playing the tuba in the high school band. "I sat in the rear of the stand. [...] . I didn't realize it at the time , but I was intrigued with becoming an arranger and an orchestrator." At the age of seventeen May began playing with Gene Olsen's Polish-American Orchestra. After playing for a few local bands, May heard Charlie Barnet's band on the radio in his hometown of Pittsburgh. May approached the bandleader and asked if he could write arrangements for the band. This happened in the summer of 1938. From 1938 to 1940, May wrote arrangements and played trumpet for Charlie Barnet's big band. His arrangement of the Ray Noble
Ray Noble (musician)
Ray Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day...
composition "Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
" became a major hit of the swing music era. During the Barnet days, May revealed a significant flair for satire on a composition titled "The Wrong Idea", composed with Charlie Barnet, that ridiculed the bland "Mickey Mouse" style of safe big band music with specific musical mockery of bandleader Sammy Kaye
Sammy Kaye
Sammy Kaye , born Samuel Zarnocay, Jr., was an American bandleader and songwriter, whose tag line, "Swing and sway with Sammy Kaye", became one of the most famous of the Big Band Era.-Biography:...
, known for his "swing and sway" trademark. May's caustic lyrics to the song called it "swing and sweat with Charlie Barnet". Bandleader Glenn Miller hired May away from Charlie 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'."
May worked as an arranger for the bands of Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
and Les Brown
Les Brown (bandleader)
Les 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. He was the first president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences...
before being hired as staff arranger first for the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
radio network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...
, then for Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
.
With Capitol Records
At Capitol, May wrote arrangements for many top artists. These included Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
on the albums Come Fly With Me, Come Dance with Me! and Come Swing With Me
Come Swing with Me
Come Swing with Me! is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1961.The album is Sinatra's final swing session with Capitol Records, as his next album, Point of No Return, would be composed mainly of torch songs. This album is possibly unique for the orchestral arrangement and...
; Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
on the albums Just One Of Those Things and Let's Face the Music!
Let's Face the Music!
Let's Face the Music! is a 1964 studio album by Nat King Cole, arranged by Billy May. It was recorded in November 1961, and released three years later...
, as well as numerous singles (all his work with Cole being packaged later on the 2CD set The Billy May Sessions); Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
, with whom he was a longtime collaborator, featuring on many of the artist's comedy recordings; Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
on the album Pretty Eyes
Pretty Eyes
The Allmusic review by Dave Nathan awarded the album three stars and commented that "There's no brass in the orchestra, just flutes, woodwinds, and strings. The result is that the arrangements are tame compared to charts May turned out when he had trumpets and trombones to work with...
; Sue Raney
Sue Raney
Sue Raney is an American jazz singer. Signed by Capitol Records at the age of seventeen, her debut album, the Nelson Riddle-produced When Your Lover Has Gone, was released in 1958. Raney begin singing at only four years of age, and encouraged by her mother, began working as a professional before...
on her second album Songs for a Raney Day; Vic Damone
Vic Damone
Vic Damone is an American singer and entertainer.- Early life :Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York to French-Italian immigrants based in Bari, Italy—Rocco and Mamie Farinola. His father was an electrician; and his mother taught piano. His cousin was the actress and singer...
on the albums The Lively Ones
The Lively Ones
The Lively Ones were an American instrumental surf rock band active in Southern California in the 1960s. They played live mostly in California and Arizona. They recorded for Del-Fi records with production from Bob Keane...
and Strange Enchantment; Jeri Southern
Jeri Southern
Genevieve Lillian Hering, known by her stage name Jeri Southern, was an American jazz pianist and singer.-Biography:...
on the album Jeri Southern Meets Cole Porter; Keely Smith
Keely Smith
Keely Smith is an American jazz and popular music singer who enjoyed popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. She collaborated with, among others, Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra.-Career:...
on the album Politely and on a duet single, "Nothing In Common"/"How Are Ya Fixed For Love?", with Sinatra; Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
on the album Oh! Look at Me Now
Oh! Look at Me Now
"Oh! Look at Me Now" is a 1941 song composed by Joe Bushkin, with lyrics by John DeVries. It is strongly associated with Frank Sinatra, who first recorded it with Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra, in an arrangement by Sy Oliver...
; Nancy Wilson on the albums Like In Love, Something Wonderful
Something Wonderful (album)
Something Wonderful was the second album by the American vocalist Nancy Wilson, it was released in 1960 by Capitol Records, and arranged by Billy May...
, Tender Loving Care, Nancy - Naturally! and various tracks from the albums Just For Now and Lush Life; Matt Monro
Matt Monro
Matt Monro was an English singer who became one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s...
on several tracks from the albums Invitation to the Movies, Invitation to Broadway, and These Years; Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
and Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
on the albums That Travelin' Two-Beat
That Travelin' Two-Beat
That Travelin' Two-Beat was a duet album by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, released on Capitol Records in 1965. With its world tour theme, it was a revisitation of the concept explored in the duo's acclaimed RCA Records album, Fancy Meeting You Here, released in 1958...
and Fancy Meeting You Here; and Sir George Shearing
George Shearing
Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...
on the albums Satin Affair and Burnished Brass, co-arranged with Shearing (May also conducted Shearing's album Concerto For My Love, on which Shearing had sole credit for the arrangements).
Additionally, May's orchestra was featured on many Capitol Records children's projects. He also worked closely with early 1950s satirist Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
, 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's Wun'erful, Wun'erful! a lacerating spoof of bandleader Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
, May hired some of the best jazz musicians in Hollywood for his recording sessions, and they relished the idea of mocking the financially successful Welk sound, which they considered musically awful. The result was a note-perfect recreation of Welk's sound as Freberg and a group of vocalists created parodies of Welk's musical family. Freberg has recounted that Welk was less than amused by the results, which he could not have achieved without May.
May also composed and conducted the music for Freberg's short-lived comedy radio series on CBS, which ran for fifteen episodes in 1957.
In 1959, May won the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Performance by an Orchestra
Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra
The Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra - Primarily Not Jazz or for Dancing was awarded from 1959 to 1964...
.
Much of May's work for Capitol has been reissued on the Ultra-Lounge series of CDs.
With other record labels
The Crosby-Clooney collaboration was a sequel to their earlier album on RCA Records, Fancy Meeting You HereFancy Meeting You Here
Fancy Meeting You Here is a 1958 studio album of duets by the American singers Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, arranged by Billy May....
, also arranged by May.
May’s other non-Capitol work included another Bing Crosby duet album, this time with Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, entitled Bing & Satchmo; a further duet album twinning Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
with Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...
, called Two Of A Kind
Two of a Kind
Two of a Kind may refer to:*Two of a Kind , a 1951 film starring Lizabeth Scott*Two of a Kind , a 1983 film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John* Two of a Kind , soundtrack of the 1983 film...
; the sixth in Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
's acclaimed series of Song Books
The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Songbooks
The Ella Fitzgerald Songbooks were a series of eight studio albums released in irregular intervals between 1956 and 1964, recorded by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, supported by a variety of orchestras, big bands, and jazz quartets....
for Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook is a 1961 album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with a studio orchestra conducted and arranged by Billy May...
; a similar dip into the Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Lorenz Hart...
opus with Anita O'Day
Anita O'Day
Anita O'Day was an American jazz singer.Born Anita Belle Colton, O'Day was admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the "girl singer"...
, entitled Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart
Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart
Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart is a 1960 studio album by Anita O'Day, arranged by Billy May. O'Day and May had previously recorded an album dedicated to a single composer, Cole Porter, in 1959.- Track listing :...
; Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
’s Latin-flavoured album ¡Olé Tormé!: Mel Tormé Goes South of the Border with Billy May
¡Olé Tormé!: Mel Tormé Goes South of the Border with Billy May
- Personnel :* Mel Tormé – vocals, drums* Frank Beach – trumpet* Pete Candoli* Conrad Gozzo* Manny Klein* Eddie Kusby – trombone* Tommy Pederson* Dave Wells* Si Zentner* Gene Cipriano – woodwind* Chuck Gentry* Justin Gordon...
; early albums by Jack Jones
Jack Jones (singer)
John Allan "Jack" Jones is an American jazz and pop singer. He was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1960s.-Overview:...
(Shall We Dance?) and Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
(In Hollywood); one solitary session with Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
for Roulette Records
Roulette Records
Roulette Records is an American record label, which was founded in late 1956, by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Khals, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed as director...
in 1960, to record the single The Green Leaves of Summer and three other tracks; and two more albums with Keely Smith
Keely Smith
Keely Smith is an American jazz and popular music singer who enjoyed popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. She collaborated with, among others, Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra.-Career:...
, recorded nearly forty years apart – CheroKeely Swings from 1962 and Keely Sings Sinatra, one of May’s last pieces of work, from 2001.
After Sinatra left Capitol to start his own label, Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
, May continued to provide arrangements for him, off and on, for nearly thirty more years, working on the albums Sinatra Swings
Sinatra Swings
Sinatra Swings is an album by Frank Sinatra, released in 1961.The album's two titles derive from the fact that Capitol thought this album, originally titled Swing Along With Me, was so close in sound and title to Sinatra's earlier Capitol album Come Swing with Me! that the label sought, and was...
, Francis A. & Edward K.
Francis A. & Edward K.
Francis A. & Edward K. is a 1968 studio album by Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington and his big band.This was the first time that Sinatra had worked with Ellington and the sessions were finished on Sinatra's fifty second birthday.-Track listing:...
(with Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
) and Trilogy 1: The Past
Trilogy: Past Present Future
Trilogy: Past Present Future is a 1980 triple album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. This album produced the last of Sinatra's many signature numbers, "Theme from New York, New York."...
, as well as the chart for what is thought to be Sinatra's last ever solo recording, "Cry Me a River" (1988), which was eventually released on the 20 CD Box Set Frank Sinatra - The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings. In addition, May was the natural choice to arrange Sinatra's knockabout duet with Sammy Davis Jr., Me And My Shadow
Me and My Shadow
"Me and My Shadow" is a 1927 popular song. Officially the credits show it as written by Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer; in fact, Billy Rose was exclusively a lyricist, Dreyer a composer, and Al Jolson a performer who was often given credits so he could earn some more money, so the actual...
, which was a hit single on both sides of the Atlantic in 1962, whilst he also contributed to Sinatra's ambitious "Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre
Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre
Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre is a series of albums released in 1963 , and released in this box set in 2000.The four discs feature the scores of four popular Broadway musicals of the time, namely Finian's Rainbow , Kiss Me, Kate , South Pacific and Guys and Dolls .-Track listing:Disc One -...
" project, providing a few arrangements for three of its four albums, South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
, Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
and Guys and Dolls, May's charts being variously performed by Sinatra, Davis, Crosby, Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, Jo Stafford
Jo Stafford
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s...
and Lou Monte
Lou Monte
Lou Monte born Louis Scaglione, was an Italian American singer best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records which he recorded for both RCA Records and Reprise Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
and yielding a perennial Sinatra concert favourite, "Luck Be A Lady" from Guys and Dolls.
In 1958, May arranged a holiday album on Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
featuring the Jimmy Joyce Singers, titled A Christmas to Remember.
Musical style
May's charts often featured brisk tempos and intricate brass parts. One distinctive feature of his style is his frequent use of trumpet mute devices; another, a saxophone glissando, is widely known as his "slurping saxes". However, May was also an accomplished writer in slower tempos, sometimes using string arrangements. Good examples of this aspect of his work include his brass chart for "These Foolish ThingsThese Foolish Things
These Foolish Things is a 1973 album by Bryan Ferry, containing cover versions of standard songs. It was his first solo effort, still being Roxy Music's lead singer...
" on the Cole album Just One of Those Things and his string arrangement of "April in Paris
April in Paris (song)
"April in Paris" is a song composed by Vernon Duke with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg in 1932 for the Broadway musical, Walk A Little Faster. The original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin, and the 1952 remake was by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, whose version made the Cashbox Top 50.Composer Alec...
" on Sinatra's Come Fly With Me album.
Film and television soundtrack work
May's musical compositions for television include "Somewhere in the Night," which was the theme music for the Naked CityNaked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
(1960) television series, and his jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
style re-arrangement of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
's Flight of the Bumblebee
Flight of the Bumblebee
"Flight of the Bumblebee" is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900. The piece closes Act III, Tableau 1, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Prince Gvidon Saltanovich into an insect so that he can fly away to...
, which was the theme music for The Green Hornet
The Green Hornet (TV series)
The Green Hornet is a television show on the ABC US television network. It aired for the 1966–1967 TV season, and starred Van Williams as the Green Hornet/Britt Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato.- Episodes:...
(1966) television series, which featured a trumpet performance by Al Hirt
Al Hirt
Al Hirt was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million selling recordings of "Java", and the accompanying album, Honey in the Horn . His nicknames included 'Jumbo' and 'The Round Mound of Sound'...
. May also composed the music for the "Batgirl
Batgirl
Batgirl is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, frequently depicted as female counterparts to the superhero Batman...
Theme" song, which was used in the Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
(1966) television series when the Batgirl
Batgirl
Batgirl is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, frequently depicted as female counterparts to the superhero Batman...
character was added to the cast in 1967. Along with Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
, he was also involved in scoring episodes of Naked City
Naked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
(1960), Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
(1966), The Green Hornet
The Green Hornet (TV series)
The Green Hornet is a television show on the ABC US television network. It aired for the 1966–1967 TV season, and starred Van Williams as the Green Hornet/Britt Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato.- Episodes:...
(1966), and Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...
(1972). May also composed the score for the Rat Pack
Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean...
film Sergeants 3 (1962).
Compositions by Billy May
Billy May's compositions included "Long Tall Mama" and "Measure For Measure", recorded with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, "Boom Shot", written with Glenn Miller (Billy's wife Arletta originally received credit as co-author in his place) for the soundtrack of the 1942 Twentieth Century Fox movie Orchestra WivesOrchestra Wives
Orchestra Wives is a 1942 American musical film by 20th Century Fox starring Ann Rutherford, George Montgomery, and Glenn Miller. The film was the second and last film to feature The Glenn Miller Orchestra, and is notable among the many swing era musicals because its plot is more serious and...
, "Harlem Chapel Bells", which was performed with Glenn Miller and his Orchestra on April 2, 1941 and broadcast on the Chesterfield Moonlight Serenade radio program on CBS, "Lean Baby", "Fat Man Boogie", "Ping Pong", "Jooms Jones", "Gabby Goose", "Lumby", "Daisy Mae" and "Friday Afternoon" with Hal McIntyre, "Miles Behind", "The Wrong Idea" with Charlie Barnet, "Wings Over Manhattan", "Filet of Soul
Filet of soul
Filet of Soul are an American folk-rock band from Athens and Atlanta, GA.-Band:The band was formed in 1996 by brothers Adam Beadles and Greg Beadles. Adam is the band’s frontman, with Greg the principal songwriter. Shortly after formation, the band was joined by drummer Cornelius Freeman...
", "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
I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat
"I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat" is a novelty song composed and written by Alan Livingston, Billy May and Warren Foster. It was sung by Mel Blanc, who provided the voice of the bird, Tweety and of his nemesis Sylvester....
, which he recorded with Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
in 1950.
Singles
- 1952 Charmaine(Capitol 1919) charted for two wekks, peaked #17
- 1956 Main title from "The Man With the Golden Arm" (Capitol 3372) charted for forteen wekks, peaked #49
External links
- [ Billy May profile] at Allmusic