Billy May

Billy May stood as the final major arranger maintaining a steady collaboration with Frank Sinatra while pursuing several distinct paths inside and outside jazz. He launched his career with an early prominent role as arranger and trumpeter for Charlie Barnet from 1938 to 1940, creating the signature wah-wah-ing hit version of Ray Noble’s “Cherokee.” He continued in identical capacities with Glenn Miller between 1940 and 1942 and with Les Brown in 1942, then moved into salaried studio positions, beginning at NBC and later joining Capitol Records, where he directed his own studio big band from 1951 through 1954. For Sinatra, May supplied arrangements that ran from Come Fly With Me in 1957 to Trilogy in 1979, frequently employing a pounding, brass-heavy, even mocking swing style that produced some of the vocalist’s most confident performances. He also supplied extensive scores for television, motion pictures, and advertising. After remaining largely out of the spotlight during the 1980s and 1990s, May reappeared without warning in 1996, delivering characteristically buoyant big-band charts for Stan Freberg’s comic album The United States of America, Vol. 2 on Rhino, a quarter-century after his work on the first volume. The veteran arranger passed away peacefully at his residence on January 22, 2004, at age 87.