Wildly Imaginative 

Arranger-Bandleader Billy May Leaves Legacy On Making A Tune Sound Great

The following article on Billy May was originally published in the July 2000 issue of Jazz Connection Magazine.

 The way Billy May sees it, being an arranger requires a good imagination. And May himself has been described by big band critic George T. Simon as "wildly imaginative."

May, a huge man with a dry wit that was reflected in much of what he wrote, has been one of the most exciting arrangers to come out of the Big Band era. One of the biggest hits and signature sounds of the swing era, the chipped saxophone riff on the classic Cherokee, was arranged for Charlie Barnet's orchestra in 1939 by May. After playing trumpet and arranging for Barnet and Glenn Miller, May went into the recording studios to gain prominence as a much-in-demand arranger for Capitol Records backing up such singing stars as Frank Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole and Peggy Lee. For a brief period in the early 1950s, he was even a successful bandleader in his own right, often performing the hottest show in town.

"I guess some of the things I have done musically were very successful," said May, 83, via telephone from his home in San Juan Capistrano, CA. "We got lucky."

May is free to consider the outcome of his work as having to do with luck, but many critics see it as coming from his keen "inspired imagination." Many would even say genius, if you will.

These critics see May's music as reflecting the combination of energy, enthusiasm, fun and creativity that is filled with exhilaration, excitement and ebullience.

"Obviously, you approach the material you are to arrange with a lot of factors in mind such as the composition itself, the targeted listeners, the artist who will be recording it, etc.," May said about how he receives the inspiration to do arrangements. "Sometimes suggestions are given by those who hire you. Doing something for Time/Life Records is different than doing something for Frank Sinatra. You have to consider all the factors."

Born November 10, 1916, in Pittsburgh, PA,  May started his musical training on the tuba at age 14, due to health reasons.

"I suffered from asthma as a boy and the doctor suggested that I play a horn to increase my lung capacity," May said. "I talked to the band teacher about it and he gave me a tuba."

May became interested in arranging because he had so much time to observe the other instruments when he played the tuba, he said.

"I was intrigued with arranging right from the beginning," May said. "The tuba had the bass part in the band and I began noticing that some arrangements had more interesting bass parts than others."

By the time he graduated from Schenley High School in the1935, the Big Band era was just starting, and May had begun taking up playing the trombone and trumpet.

During the ensuing years, May worked with a variety of  Pittsburgh bands, he said.

It was a chance meeting with bandleader Charlie Barnet during the band's stopover in Pittsburgh in the summer of 1938 that forever changed May's life.

"I had heard Charlie's band and I fell in love with it," May said.  "I went to Charlie and asked if I could write an arrangement for him. He said sure and that his band was going to rehearse the following day. I stayed up all night and wrote a chart. I brought it to him and he liked it very much. He made a deal with me and then went out of town. Shortly after that, Charlie went on another one of his marital adventures and broke up band."

Not to be discouraged, May kept on fine-tuning his arranging skills while continuing to play with local bands.

In early 1939, while tuning in on the radio, May heard a broadcast of Barnet's band from New York. Not to be denied, he wrote the saxophone playing bandleader a letter asking him for the money he owed him for the arrangement.

"Instead of sending money, Charlie called me and asked me to come to New York to work with him," May said. "I arranged and played trumpet in the band."

It didn't take long for May to come up with a hit arrangement for the Barnet band. He took an Indian-inspired tune that British bandleader Ray Noble had played in a suite and wove it to fit Barnet's hard, swinging style.

"Someone was fooling around with the plunger mutes on the trombones doing a "wah-wah" sound," May recalled. "I got the idea of using the three trombones starting off the piece that way."

The result was a wild, romping version of Cherokee, recorded on July 17, 1939, which became Barnet's biggest hit and the bandleader's theme song.

"It became the most popular record Charlie ever made," May said.

Other members of the Barnet who were on the recording include Robert Burnet and John Owens, trumpets; Don Ruppersberg, Bill Robertson and Ben Hall, trombones; Kurt Bloom, Gene Kinsey, James Lamare and Don McCook, saxophones; Bill Miller, piano; Bus Etri, guitar: Phil Stephens, bass; and Cliff Leeman, drums.

In fact, Cherokee became one of the biggest hit tunes of the Swing Era  -  an anthem of sorts for the period  -  probably second only to Glenn Miller's In The Mood.

The song also became a key inspiration for bebop players a few years later. Charlie Parker's Ko-Ko is based on the chord changes in Cherokee.

With May and alto saxophonist/arranger Skippy Martin and trombonist/arranger Lyle "Spud" Murphy joining Barnet's band, things started to really cook. It waxed a number of great  sides for Bluebird including The Count's Idea, The Duke's Idea (both Sept. 10, 1939), The Right Idea and The Wrong Idea (both Oct. 9, 1939), Comanche War Dance (Jan. 3, 1940); It's A Wonderful World and 720 In The Books (both vocals by Mary Ann McCall, Feb. 7, 1940); Leapin' At The Lincoln (March 21, 1940); Southern Fried (Sept. 17, 1940), and Redskin Rhumba (Oct. 14,1940). Barnet used his own composition of  Redskin Rhumba, a follow-up to Cherokee, as his closing theme.

Another gem that May arranged for the Barnet library was the quirky slow blues piece, Pompton Turnpike (July 19, 1940). He is heard on the muted trumpet passage in the call and response pattern opposite to Barnet's soprano saxophone.

Just as Barnet and his orchestra was riding the crest of popularity, disaster struck.

While playing at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles in October 1939, a fire swept through the famed dance spot destroying the band's instruments and music.

"It was a very orderly fire," May recalled matter-of-factly. "The fire started after we left the bandstand at intermission. Once it got started, it had lots of fuel. The first casualties were the instruments and the music. I even lost my horn."

It was May who headed the undertaking of rewriting the entire Barnet book from scratch, with a little help from friends, he said.

"It wasn't so bad," May said. "We had a lot of guys to help us. Skippy Martin and myself had written most of the stuff for the band. Benny Carter and Jimmy Mundy came to help. Within two weeks we had the book in order to go out and start working."

That same year, May wrote a suite for the 1939 New York World's Fair called Wings Over Manhattan, a piece that was inspired by Duke Ellington's musical influence. Barnet eventually recorded the tune on the Bluebird label in two parts on Sept. 17, 1940.

May stayed with Barnet for almost a year-and-a half, from July 1939 to mid-October1940.

The final recordings May did with Barnet occurred on Oct. 14 with I Hear A Rhapsody and Isola Bella (both vocals by Bob Carroll); Whatcha Know Joe? (vocal by trumpeter Ford Leary and the vocal group, The Three Moaxes); Buffy Boy, Lumby and Redskin Rhumba.

"Charlie was a wonderful guy," May said. "He was born in a wealthy family and had money all his life. He was the original spoiled little rich kid but he was a good guy about it."

Right after he recorded those final cuts for Barnet, Glenn Miller hired May to play lead and jazz trumpet as well as to arrange for his band. Also joining the Miller band at the same time was Ray Anthony, who, with his warm low register sound was a very capable fourth trumpet man.

"Glenn was looking for a trumpet player and someone recommended me to him," May said. "I originally didn't want to go with Glenn because I liked Charlie's band better. Glenn also offered me $100 more than what I was making with Charlie and the money was too good to turn down."

Being with Miller was certainly a different experience than being with Barnet, May said.

"There's was more freedom in Charlie's band," May said. "It was more of a free-swinging band and you could do more of what you wanted. There was definitely more improvisation. Glenn was pretty much a 'do-it-the-same-way-every-night' kind of a leader."

May shared arranging duties with Miller, Jerry Gray and Bill Finegan.

One of the first recordings May did with Miller was his relaxed swinging arrangement of Along The Santa Fe Trail (vocal by Ray Eberle on Nov. 8, 1940). Other Miller band personnel on that recording included Dale McMickle, Johnny Best and Ray Anthony, trumpets; Jimmy Priddy, Paul Tanner and Frank D'Annolfo, trombones; Willie Schwartz, Hal McIntyre, Ernie Caceres, Tex Beneke and Al Klink, saxophones; Chummy MacGregor, piano; Jack Lathrop, guitar; Trigger Alpert, bass; Maurice Purtill, drums.

During this time, May helped to record many of the hits that have become Miller signature tunes such as Anvil Chorus (Dec. 13-27, 1940), Song Of The Volga Boatmen and Sun Valley Jump (both on Jan. 17, 1941), Perfidia (vocal by Dorothy Claire and The Modernaires, Feb. 19, 1941), It's Always You (vocal by Ray Eberle, Feb. 20, 1941), Chattanooga Choo Choo (May 7, 1941), Adios (June 25, 1941), Elmer's Tune (Aug. 11, 1941), A String of Pearls (Nov. 3, 1941), Moonlight Cocktail (Ray Eberle and The Modernaires, Dec. 8, 1941), Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree (Feb. 18, 1942), American Patrol (April 2, 1942), I've Got A Gal In Kalamazoo (vocal by Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton and The Modernaires), Serenade In Blue (Ray Eberle and The Modernaires) and At Last (vocal by Ray Eberele) (all three on May 20, 1942), Caribbean Clipper (July 14, 1942), and Juke Box Saturday Night (Marion Hutton and The Modernaires, July 15, 1942).

Another stand out chart that May did for the Miller band  - and many would argue it to be a classic  -  was a slow, ballad-like arrangement of the Duke Ellington-Billy Strayhorn opus, Take The "A" Train.

During this time, the Miller band also made two movies: Sun Valley Serenade (1941) starring Sonja Henie, John Payne and Milton Berle; and Orchestra Wives (1942) starring George Montgomery, Anne Rutherford, Caesar Romero and Jackie Gleason.

"Working with Glenn was a good asset to my career," May said.

Besides leading the nation's Number One band, Miller was also an astute business man. During his two-year stint with Miller, May learned a lot from the trombone-playing bandleader as to how to make money in the music business, he said.

When Miller alto saxophonist Hal McIntyre left the band to form his own outfit in October 1941, May composed and arranged some charts for the McIntyre band library. He wrote Daisy Mae and Friday Afternoon, which were recorded by McIntyre on the Victor label on April 1, 1942.

After Miller broke up his band in September 27, 1942, to go into the service, May became a staff trumpet player for NBC on The Chamber Society Of Lower Basin Street show before he moved to Los Angeles in the spring of 1943 to do free lance arranging.

May did work for Ozzie Nelson and played trumpet in Nelson's band on The Red Skelton Show. When Skelton went into the service in 1944, The Ozzie And Harriet Show replaced it. May became bandleader and arranger for Nelson's show during from 1944 until 1952 when it went on television. 

May met Paul Weston, musical director of the new Capitol Records, and began ghost-arranging for him in 1944. 

In August 1945, May recorded his first session as a Capitol Records orchestra leader backing up singer Ella Mae Morse on Rip Van Winkle and Buzz Me.

In December of that year, May led a studio orchestra for Capitol that cut eight instrumentals: Body And Soul, Honeysuckle Rose, Sweet Lorraine, Sunset And Vine Blues, I Got Rhythm, I May Be Wrong, I Surrender, Dear and Just You, Just Me.

Comprising that studio band were Paul Geil, Uan Rasey and Irv Shuken, trumpets; Les Jenkins and Bill Shaffer, trombones; Les Robinson and Heine Beau, alto saxophones; Hap Lawson and Harry Scuchman, tenor saxophones; Bob Poland, baritone saxophone; Buddy Cole, piano; Dave Barbour, guitar; Phil Stephens, bass; Nick Fatool, drums.

During this period May also wrote arrangements for the bands of Les Brown and Alvino Rey.

When Capitol decided to put out a series of children's story-song records, May was given the musical responsibilities, producing over 60 such albums over the next ten years featuring Disney cartoon characters, Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes characters, and Bozo The Clown. On March 28, 1946, May teamed up with Pinto Golvig to wax the first of the Bozo The Clown series with Bozo At The Circus, a four-record set. Next, came Bozo And His Rocket Ship (March 24, 1947, two records); Bozo Under The Sea (October 1947, two records); and finally, Bozo's Song (December 1947).

Other children's records that May worked on for Capitol include a collaboration with cartoon character imitator Mel Blanc on Bugs Bunny Meets Elmer Fudd, Pts. 1 & 2, Daffy Duck Flies South, Pts. 1 & 2 and Porky Pig In Africa, Pts, 1 & 2 (all on April 23 and 25, 1947); Bugs Bunny And The Tortoise (December 1947); Woody Woodpecker (with the Sportsmen, June 1948); Bugs Bunny Meets Hiawatha and Daffy Duck Meets Yosemite Sam (both April 1950); Tweety Pie (May 1950); I Tawt I Taw A Putty Tat (July 1950); and Bugs Bunny And The Pirate, Parts 1 & 2 (January 1954).

He also worked with James Baskett on a series of Brer Rabbitt recordings (Sept. 1946); with Johnny Mercer, Luana Patten and Bobby Driscoll on Mickey Mouse And The Beanstalk (July 6, 7, 1947); with Henry Blair on Sparky And The Talking Train (Aug. 22, 1947) and Sparky's Magic Piano (Sept. 1947); and with Don Wilson on Little Toot. 

During his first few years at Capitol Records, May wrote for and led studio bands for a variety of artists including Clark Dennis, Margaret O'Brien, Jerry Lewis, Margaret Whiting, Baby Snooks, Peggy Lee, Kay Starr, Gisele MacKenzie, Nellie Lutcher, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat "King" Cole (most notably, Walkin' My Baby Back Home, on Sept. 4, 1951).

In addition, May also did work for Phil Harris, and The King Sisters (Stone Cold Dead In The Market, The Coffee Song, My Honey's Kiss, and You, So It's You, for RCA Victor in February 1946).

It was the result of recording a dance album of Arthur Murray favorites in June1951 that thrusted May into the world of band leading and a trademark sound.

"When I was doing those Murray sides, I was fooling around with the saxophone sound  -   the 'slurping saxophone' sound, as it's been called  -  and I thought that this would be a good time to experiment with Capitol's money," May said. "Capitol liked the sound so much that they forgot about the Arthur Murray records and put out a single. That snowballed into a big demand to see Billy May and his band all over the United States."

This "slurping saxophone" sound  -  voiced in thirds, something like a bluesy glissando  -  instantly became a much-sought-after "new sound."

"Individual saxophone players such as Johnny Hodges and Willie Smith were doing that (slurping sound) for a long time," May said. "I was thinking that I could get the saxophone section to do it. I was fooling around with the saxes and figured out which pitches worked best for the altos and tenors. I developed it and the guys I used in the band were happy to do it."

The band's theme song, Lean Baby (Aug. 22, 1951), became a big hit. Other hits include Fat Man Boogie and When My Sugar Walks Down The Street (both Aug. 22, 1951) and All Of Me (June 25,1951).

On September 24, 1951, Capitol released these recordings by the May band. All were well received, and the band established itself placing 10th in Down Beat Magazine's "Best Band" category for 1951.

Many of the personnel on May's studio recordings included old band chums who were working in the studios after World War II:  trumpeters Johnny Best, Uan Rasey, Conrad Gozzo and Manny Klein; trombonists Ed Kusby, Murray McEachern, Joe Howard and Si Zentner; saxophonists Les Robinson, Willie Schwartz, Ted Nash, Skeets Herfurt, Fred Fallensby, Don Raffell and Chuck Gentry; pianist Buddy Cole; guitarist Barney Kessel; bassist Joe Mondragon; and drummer Alvin Stoller.

In order to capitalize on the public's interest, May took the band out on the road. On Feb. 22, 1952, he opened at the Rainbow Gardens in Pomona, CA. During that year, May's band was a top draw wherever they went and moved up to 5th in the Down Beat poll.

In mid-1953, Capitol released Big Band Bash, a12-inch LP album of compilation recordings that May's band did between Dec. 5,1951 and Jan, 23, 1953. The album showcases the best of the Billy May "sound" set to May's swinging arrangements.

After almost two years of the constant traveling with his band, May threw in the towel.

"Soon after we launched the band, I found out I didn't miss the road," May said. "Even though the band did well wherever we played, we were playing the same joints I played with Barnet and Miller years earlier. I also didn't have the tolerance to do anniversary requests and shmooze with the audience. I really went out because my first marriage had its challenges in one way or another."

The band made its final appearance during an October 1953 engagement at the Hollywood Palladium.

Wanting out of the band business, May sold the band (reportedly for $35,000) to former Miller alumnus trumpeter Ray Anthony, he said. Anthony, who was already leading a band at the time and was a major recording artist for Capitol, bought the music and the rights to use May's name.

"I retained the right for records, television and movie work," May said.

May then headed back into the Capitol studios to continue to lead studio bands.

On April 17, 1954, in the wake of the popularity of the motion picture, The Glenn Miller Story, May cut a Glenn Miller tribute album played by Miller alumni for Gene Norman's 76 label. The album contains ten of Miller's most popular instrumentals. Joining May on the recording were Johnny Best, Zeke Zarchy and Clyde Hurley, trumpets; John Halliburton, Murray McEachern, Paul Tanner and Joe Yukl, trombones; Russ Cheever, Willie Schwartz, Eddie Miller, Babe Russin and Chuck Gentry, saxophones; Jack Russin, piano; Dick Fisher, guitar; Rollie Bundock, bass; and Jack Sperling, drums.

In October 1957, May teamed up for the first time with singer Frank Sinatra to record the album, Come Fly With Me. When Capitol released it in early 1958, the album shot to Number 1 on the Billboard pop chart.

"There was some good writing in there and it was a successful album," May said.

In May 1958, May cut an album of unusual interest. He dropped the use of reed instruments altogether for a "brass choir" sound on Big Fat Brass.  It won for May a Grammy at the First Annual Grammy Awards for "Best Performance By An Orchestra." 

Personnel on that album include Johnny Best, Frank Beach, Pete Candoli, Conrad Gozzo, Manny Klein and Uan Rasey, trumpets; Ed Kusby, Tommy Pederson, Si Zenter, trombones; George Roberts, bass trombone; Vince de Rosa, Jack Cave, Jimmy Decker, Dick Perissi, Art Franz, French horns; Red Callender, tuba; Veryle Mills, harp; Paul Smith, piano; Al Hendrickson, guitar; Joe Mondragon and Ralph Penner, bass; Alvin Stoller, drums; Lou Singer and Ralph Hansell, percussion.

The chemistry between May and Sinatra was there on the Come Fly With Me album and the pair collaborated again on March 3, 1958, this time with songstress Keely Smith, on four tunes: Nothing In Common and How Are You Fixed For Love? (duet with Sinatra and Smith) and The Same Old Song And Dance and Here Goes (both vocals by Sinatra).

The next album project between May and Sinatra took place in December 1958 with Come Dance With Me. It also would be a smash hit album, staying on the charts for 141 consecutive weeks and earning for May his second Grammy Award in 1959 for "Best Arrangement." May also worked on Sinatra's  follow up album, Come Swing With Me (1961). (May would be nominated for seven Grammys during his career.)

The May-Sinatra collaboration continued throughout the 1960s to 1979 on Capitol and on Sinatra's Reprise label. May arranged and conducted the first album, The Past, of Sinatra's Trilogy series in 1979.

Crooner Bing Crosby cranked out two "traveling" albums with May, including Fancy Meeting You Here with Rosemary Clooney (for RCA-Victor in July 1958).

Albums with singers Keely Smith, Cherokeely Swings and Politely (December 1958), both on Capitol, and Anita O'Day, Anita Swings Cole Porter (April 2 and 9, 1959) on Verve, soon followed.

May's work backing up singers was just basically a job to him, he said.

"It's like anything else, some of them were good and some of them were not so good," he said. "It was money."

But May did name drop Patti Page, Peggy Lee and Gerry Southern as some of the favorite female singers that he's worked with, while Sinatra, Vic Damone and Perry Como rank as favorite male singers.

In April 1961, May and his Orchestra backed up Johnny Mercer and Bobby Darin on the swinging album, Two Of A Kind (Atco Records).

May also worked in television and films. He composed the theme to the detective series, Naked City,  TVs The Mod Squad and Emergency, and wrote the scores for the films including Sergeants Three and Nightmare (1956), in which he also played a bandleader in a dimly-lit nightclub, Johnny Cool and Tony Rome (with Frank Sinatra, November 1967).

During this time May was also the musical director for satirist Stan Freberg's radio comedy series.

May's first collaborated with Freberg in March 1952, on a Capitol Records' recording of Abe Snake For President. Two years later, the pair teamed up again to record three more singles: Sh-Boom, Wide-Screen Mama Blues and Try (all July 1954). May and Freberg would continue to record their off-beat brand of humor throughout the remainder of 1950s and '60s, including Wun'erful, Wun'erful, a parody on bandleader Lawrence Welk (August 1957) and the 1961 comedy album, The History Of The United States, Vol. I, which earned a Grammy Award for Freberg.

May's arranging prowess was applauded by big band enthusiasts when he was asked in the early 1970s to arrange and lead authentic recreations for the Time/Life Records' series, The Swing Era. 

Bandleader Glen Gray had originally done some of these Swing Era recreations for Capitol Records five years earlier, May said.

In the meantime, F. M. Scott, an executive from Capitol, left and went to work for Time/Life. When Time/Life wanted to put out its own swing era material, Scott knew where Gray's masters were. Both record companies talked and a deal was cut, according to May.

"Time/Life started out using some of Gray's old masters but they needed more," May said. "They hired me to expand it. By the time we had the package completed (fourteen volumes, each containing thirty songs), the company had received an overwhelming response. I went to work for them for one album and I ended up working for them for three years!"

May's keen intellect and agility for musical scoring is legendary among studio musicians. He was once quoted as saying, "I write faster than anyone better and better than anyone faster."

An example of this occurred during a recording session with jazz pianist George Shearing on his Burnished Brass album, Shearing was playing the melody of a piece he wanted May to arrange. After one run-through, he started to repeat it and describe how he wanted it arranged. May interrupted him, saying, "Well, take it from after the bridge because I've got that much orchestrated already."

May continued to score for films through the mid-1980s, including No Batteries Included.

In 1996, May reunited with Stan Freberg to provide the music to his The History Of The United States, Part II, which earned a Grammy nomination. 

"It's really great," May said of the Freberg project.

In 1987, May was honored for his arranging talents during the Second Annual "Salute To The Songwriters" awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. The event was headed by songstress Rosemary Clooney.

Now retired completely from the music business, May has since given up playing his trumpet and spends time with his wife, Doris, and four daughters, Cynthia May, Laureen Mitchell, Joannie Ransom and Sandra Gregory. He also occupies the remainder of his free time with other things, such as his model train collection, he said.

When it comes to the music of today, May has little appreciation for it, he said.

"I don't like much of the current music," he said. "It's a generational thing."

May has also been a regular attendee at the Big Band Academy of America's annual reunions held the first weekend in March at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, CA.

Although his vast contribution and legacy to American popular music has been immortalized on records, in films and on television, May is uncertain as to its significance, he said.

Yet, he candidly offers this bit advice for aspiring arrangers  -  "Don't do it!" he said jokingly. "If you really want to be an arranger, the best thing to do is to just keep your ears open."

*****

 ***  Coda: On March 4, 2001, May was honored by the Big Band Academy Of America as a recipient of its Golden Bandstand Award. Billy May died on Jan. 22, 2004 of heart failure at his home in San Juan Capistrano, CA. He was 87.   ***