Billy May facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Billy May
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Edward William May Jr. |
| Born | November 10, 1916 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | January 22, 2004 (aged 87) San Juan Capistrano, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Big band |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, arranger |
| Instruments | Trumpet |
Edward William May Jr. (born November 10, 1916 – died January 22, 2004) was an American musician. He was a talented composer, arranger, and trumpet player. Billy May created music for popular TV shows like The Green Hornet, The Mod Squad, and Batman.
He also worked with many famous singers. These included Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and Peggy Lee. In the 1940s, during the Big Band era, he played the trumpet. He recorded songs like "Measure for Measure" and "Boom Shot" with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. With his own band, he had a hit song called "Charmaine".
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His Early Life and Musical Start
Billy May was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When he was in high school, he started playing the tuba in the band. He once said that even then, he was interested in becoming an arranger. An arranger writes music for different instruments in a band. When he was 17, he began playing with Gene Olsen's Polish-American Orchestra.
Swinging with the Big Bands
At age 22, May moved to New York City. He became the main arranger for the Charlie Barnet Orchestra. He worked there from 1939 to 1940. He also joined their trumpet section.
His job with Barnet meant writing music very quickly. He had to create four new arrangements every week. About 70 of these were recorded and released. May arranged some of Barnet's best-selling songs. These included “Pompton Turnpike” and “Leapin’ at the Lincoln.” But his arrangement of Ray Noble's "Cherokee" made Barnet's band famous across the country.
May studied the music of Duke Ellington, a famous jazz musician. May's music soon sounded rich with Ellington's style. Ellington even recorded his own version of “In a Mizz.” This was a song Charlie Barnet wrote and May arranged.
May's first serious song for a jazz orchestra was Wings Over Manhattan. It was a three-part piece celebrating the "aviation" theme of the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair. It also honored Duke Ellington.
May's funny musical style began to show with the Charlie Barnet Orchestra. This was clear in songs like “Six Lessons From Madame La Zonga.” He also made a funny musical parody called “The Wrong Idea.” May and Barnet stayed friends for their whole lives. May arranged many more songs for Barnet's Orchestra until 1970.
In 1940, bandleader Glenn Miller hired May. May said he didn't arrange any of Miller's biggest hits. But he did write a beautiful introduction for "Serenade In Blue." Miller and May had a difficult relationship at times. Miller didn't want to record half of May's arrangements. May also didn't like Miller's strict style. But May later said that working with Miller helped him a lot. He learned much from Glenn Miller.
A Career in Hollywood
When the Big Band era ended in the late 1940s, May moved to Los Angeles. He became a very popular arranger and leader for studio orchestras. He worked with many top recording stars.
Making Music with Capitol Records
At Capitol Records, May wrote music for many famous artists. He worked with Frank Sinatra on albums like Come Fly with Me and Come Dance with Me!. He also arranged music for Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, and Nancy Wilson.
May's orchestra also worked on many children's projects for Capitol Records. He worked with cowboy star Hopalong Cassidy. May also worked closely with comedian Stan Freberg. He used his arranging skills to help Freberg make funny versions of popular songs.
For Freberg's Wun'erful, Wun'erful!, May hired top jazz musicians. They enjoyed making fun of bandleader Lawrence Welk's music. The result sounded exactly like Welk's band. Freberg said Welk was not happy about the recording.
May also wrote music for Freberg's short comedy radio show in 1957. He even made a funny version of scary movie music called "Gray Flannel Hat Full of Teenage Werewolves."
May won two Grammy Awards. One was for Best Performance by an Orchestra in 1958. The other was for Best Arrangement in 1959.
In the late 1960s, May helped recreate classic big band songs. He copied the original recordings note for note. Then he led a group of famous musicians to play them. These recordings were released as "The Swing Era" boxed sets. They allowed people to hear the music with better sound quality.
Working with Other Music Labels
May also worked for other record labels. He arranged the album Fancy Meeting You Here for Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. He also worked on an album with Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong.
May arranged Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook for Ella Fitzgerald. He also worked with Anita O'Day on albums that featured songs by Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart.
After Frank Sinatra started his own record label, Reprise Records, May continued to arrange music for him for almost 30 more years. He worked on albums like Sinatra Swings and Francis A. & Edward K.. He also arranged "Cry Me a River", one of Sinatra's last solo songs.
May arranged Sinatra's duet with Sammy Davis Jr., "Me and My Shadow". This song was a hit in 1962. May also helped with Sinatra's "Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre" project. He provided arrangements for albums like South Pacific and Guys and Dolls.
In 1983, May arranged the song "He Came Here For Me" for the Carpenters' Christmas album.
Billy May's Special Sound
Billy May's music often had fast speeds and complex brass parts. One special thing about his sound was his use of trumpet mutes. Another was a sliding sound from the saxophones, which people called his "slurping saxes." In slower songs, he sometimes used string sections.
Music for Movies and TV Shows
You can see Billy May playing the trumpet in the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the movies Sun Valley Serenade (1941) and Orchestra Wives (1942). He even has a solo in "In the Mood" in Sun Valley Serenade.
In 1957, May started composing music for films. His film scores include Sergeants 3 (1962) and The Front Page (1974). He also arranged big band music for the 1991 Disney film, The Rocketeer.
For television, he composed "Somewhere in the Night," the theme for Naked City (1960). He also made a jazzy version of "Flight of the Bumblebee" for The Green Hornet (1966). He wrote the Batgirl theme for Batman (1966). He also wrote music for episodes of Emergency! (1972) and CHiPs (1977).
May also arranged the song "River of No Return" for Tennessee Ernie Ford. This was for the 1954 movie of the same name, starring Marilyn Monroe.
Famous Songs Billy May Wrote
Some of the songs Billy May composed include "Long Tall Mama" and "Measure for Measure." He wrote "Boom Shot" with Glenn Miller for the movie Orchestra Wives. He also wrote "Harlem Chapel Bells" and "Lean Baby."
But his most famous song as a composer was the children's song "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat." He recorded this song with Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters) in 1950.
Another arrangement he made, "Be My Host," was used as the winner's fanfare on the game show The Newlywed Game.
Some of His Best Recordings
Billy May arranged and conducted for many famous singers. Here are some of his recordings that featured his own bands and arrangements.
Singles
- 1952: "Charmaine" (Capitol 1919) reached No. 17 on the charts.
- 1954: "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" (Capitol F2787) reached No. 17 on the Billboard charts.
- 1956: "(Themes from) The Man with the Golden Arm" (Capitol 3372) reached No. 49 in the U.S. and No. 9 in the UK.
Albums
- 1948 Join the Band
- 1952 A Band Is Born
- 1954 Sorta-Dixie
- 1955 Sorta-May
- 1957 Jimmy Lunceford in Hi-Fi
- 1958 Billy May's Big Fat Brass
- 1962 The Sweetest Swingin' Sounds of Billy May
- 1963 Bill's Bag
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See also
In Spanish: Billy May para niños
