Billy Byers

Although forced by arthritis to abandon the piano during his teenage years, Billy Byers nevertheless established himself as a highly productive arranger. He turned instead to trombone and performed with Karl Kiffle's Hollywood Canteen Kids in his native Los Angeles. After completing Army duty in 1944 and 1945, he served as both arranger and trombonist in the ensembles of Georgie Auld, Buddy Rich, Benny Goodman, Charlie Ventura, and Teddy Powell during 1949 and 1950. He subsequently joined the WMGM staff in New York, where he composed material for radio and television. Comparable responsibilities took him to Paris in the mid-'50s to work with Ray Ventura, and he also led a small group on a recorded album. Returning to Europe in the late '50s, Byers performed in Quincy Jones' orchestra and accompanied Harold Arlen from 1959 to 1960. Throughout five years of the '60s he acted as Jones' assistant at Mercury Records, preparing charts for multiple Count Basie albums while also issuing his own treatments of Duke Ellington compositions. Extensive arranging and conducting assignments for film scores followed, and in 1974 he accompanied Frank Sinatra on tours of Europe and Japan.