The 1950s was a bit of a pop music desert decade, with a plethora of animal songs, many quite inane, dominating the play lists on radio, e.g. How Much Is That That Doggie in the Window; Hound Dog; The Chipmunk Song; Bird Dog, etc. For many of us, some composers and arrangers rode in to
save the day, one being Billy May, he of the swooping saxophones, or as he referred to them “slurping saxophones.” Jazz fans were also relieved, since May
was a jazz man at heart as his arrangements attest.
This two-disc set provides much of his best work, by my reckoning. The first disc starts out with some of the many big bands May graced with his presence
in the brass section, trumpet being his instrument of choice. In Cherokee by the Charlie Barnet band, in addition to leading the trumpet section,
he also did the arranging. So we have the marvelous riff that the piece is built on—the low, guttural muted trombones with the muted trumpets playing a
wa-wa phrase over them and the sax section playing a chirping syncopated riff to punctuate it, all of that under the single saxophone playing melody lead.
Another of May’s characteristics is a sense of humor which frequently asserts itself as here, where he has a muted trumpet (possibly his own) quote a
phrase from the well-known bugle call Call to Assembly (better known to most, perhaps, as “There’s a soldier in the grass, etc.”) on top of the
muted trumpet riff. The second Barnet track is a May composition, but there is not much to be said about it other than it is a tone poem that borders on
the morose.
Following the Barnet tracks come two by the Glenn Miller orchestra for which May both played trumpet and wrote charts. The first is a May composition, but
it was not exactly deathless. The second, however, probably everyone finds familiar, American Patrol, from the Miller movie “Orchestra Wives.”
Although he is in the trumpet section, May did not arrange this particular tune, that having been Jerry Gray, another prolific arranger for Miller
May and his orchestra was also a favorite choice of many singers to back them, and with several he made several albums. Thus here we find him backing Hoagy
Carmichael (Memphis in June), Peggy Lee (I Get Ideas), and Nellie Lutcher (Mean to Me) on disc one; and on disc two Nat “King”
Cole (These Foolish Things Remind Me of You), Kay Starr (Honky-Tonk Hardwood Floor), and Frank Sinatra ( Moonlight in Vermont; It’s Nice to Go Trav’ling), Keely Smith (I Can’t Get Started), Anita O’Day (All of You), Bing Crosby and
Louis Armstrong (The Preacher), Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer (Two of a Kind/Indiana), and Ella Fitzgerald (Over the Rainbow).
But by far the best of May and his orchestras is that which features his swooping saxophones which were, in effect, his signature. Other than Jazz Club on
the BBC, programs such as the Pete Murray show on Radio Luxembourg, and the American Forces Network (AFN late at night) from Germany, I believe it was, we
waited on the latter two for anything by the big bands, especially May’s; then it was a trip to the record store to order the latest 78 and wait,
patiently, for its arrival. Most of them are here and how we thrilled to the upward glissandi on these saxes playing in unison. Listening to Fat Man Boogie, even now, so long after, I recall exactly where Alvin Stoller punched in the drum accents or the saxes started that long swoop up
and the band returned to the shuffle rhythm, so often did we listen to it as it whirled round on that turntable. (At the time we had no idea who Eddie
Condon was in the exclamation!) Another highlight was the magnificent sense of insanity May evoked in You’re Driving Me Crazy with the discordant
sax riffs, the seemingly wild muted brass phrases, and as coda the mad carousel of the saxes in an ascending discordant phrase until the final
release—almost quiet by comparison, but the whole number redolent of insanity. Wonderful stuff, indeed.
Billy May was a big presence—physically and musically—and when he died of a heart attack in 1987, he left a big hole, one which has yet to be filled, if
ever it can be.
Bert Thompson
Disc
1 (1939-1952):
1.
Cherokee
2.
Wings over Manhattan
3.
Long Tall Mama
4.
American Patrol
5.
Clambake in Bb
6.
Lazy River
7.
Memphis in June
8.
Fat Man Mambo
9.
Minor Mambo
10.
I Get Ideas
11.
All of Me
12.
My Silent Love
13.
Lulu’s Back in Town
14.
Mean to Me
15.
Fat Man Boogie
16.
Lean Baby
17.
I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan
18.
Walkin’ My Baby Back Home
19.
Honky-Tonk Hardwood Floor
20.
Charmaine
21.
Unforgettable
22.
When Your Lover Has Gone
23.
Mayhem
24.
You’re Driving Me Crazy
25.
Perfidia
Disc
2 (1952-1961):
1.
Gin and Tonic
2.
Easy Street
3.
Cocktails for Two
4.
Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
5.
Little Brown Jug
6.
Let’s Put Out the Lights and Go to Sleep
7.
Rose Marie
8.
Thou Swell
9.
Blues in the Night
10.
South Rampart Street Parade
11.
The Man with the Golden Arm – Theme
12.
I’ll Never Say “Never Again” Again
13.
Say It Isn’t So
14.
These Foolish Things Remind Me of You
15.
Moonlight in Vermont
16.
It’s Nice to Go Trav’ling
17.
Burnished Brass
18.
Cheek to Cheek
19.
Brassmen’s Holiday
20.
Autumn Leaves
21.
Ping Pong
22.
Solving the Riddle
23.
I Can’t Get Started
24.
All of You
25.
The Preacher
26.
Two of a Kind – Indiana
27.
Over the Rainbow
Musical
Groups Include:
Charlie
Barnet & His Orchestra
Glenn
Miller & His Orchestra
The
Capitol International Jazzmen
Charles
LaVere & His Chicago Loopers
Billy
May & His Orchestra
Billy
May & His Rico Mambo Orchestra
Billy
May & His Dixie Band
Billy
May & His Big Fat Brass
George
Shearing & his Quintet
Billy
May & His Brass Choir
Vocalists
Include:
Hoagy
Carmichael
Peggy
Lee
Nellie
Lutcher
Nat
King Cole
Kay
Starr
Frank
Sinatra
Keely
Smith
Anita
O’Day
Bing
Crosby
Louis
Armstrong
Bobby
Darin
Johnny
Mercer
Ella
Fitzgerald
CD Reviews
