William E. May, better known as Billy May (10 November 1916 – 22 January 2004) was an American composer, arranger and musician. He died of heart failure at the age of 87 in his home in San Juan Capistrano, California. November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... January 22 is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... In popular music an arrangement is a setting of a piece of music, which may have been composed by the arranger or by someone else. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music Musicians can be classified by their role in creating or performing music: A singer (or vocalist) uses his or her voice as an instrument. ... Official website: http://www. ...

One of May's most popular compositions was the theme music of the Naked City television series in the early 1960s, "Somewhere in the Night". Along with Nelson Riddle, he was also involved in scoring the television series, Emergency! Naked City was a television series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. ... Nelson Riddle and Frank Sinatra, 1956 Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. ... Emergency! Season 1 DVD Actors (left to right): Bobby Troup, Kevin Tighe, Randolph Mantooth, Robert Fuller, Julie London. ...

Early life

May was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He played trumpet professionally in big bands such as those of Charlie Barnet starting in 1939, but became best known as a talented arranger. His arrangement of the Ray Noble composition Cherokee became a major hit of the swing music era. Nickname: Steel City, Iron City, Steel Town, City of Champions, City of Bridges, City of Colleges, The Burgh Motto: Benigno Numine (With the Benevolent Deity) Location in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Allegheny County Founded November 25, 1758 Government  - Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (D) Area  - City... The trumpet is the highest brass instrument in register, above the horn, trombone, euphonium and tuba. ... A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from 1935 until the late 1940s. ... Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... Ray Noble was a British bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. ... Musically, swing can be either: (written with small s), refers to swung notes, the rhythmic feeling evoked by swinging music, esp. ...

May worked as an arranger for the bands of Glenn Miller and Les Brown before being hired as staff arranger first for the NBC radio network, then for Capitol Records. Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 — presumably December 15, 1944), was an American jazz musician and bandleader in the swing era. ... Les Brown Sr. ... NBC (an acronym for National Broadcasting Company) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... A radio network is a network system which distributes programming to multiple stations simultaneously, or slightly delayed, for the purpose of extending total coverage beyond the limits of a single broadcast signal. ... Capitol Records is a major United States-based record label, owned by EMI. // The Capitol Records company was founded by the songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942, with the financial help of movie producer Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of Glenn Wallichs, (1910-1971) (owner of Music City, at the...

With Capitol Records

At Capitol, May wrote arrangements for many top artists. These included Frank Sinatra on the albums Come Fly With Me, Come Dance With Me and Come Swing With Me; Nat King Cole on the albums Just One Of Those Things and Let's Face The Music!, as well as numerous singles (all his work with Cole being packaged later on the 2CD set The Billy May Sessions); Stan Freberg, with whom he was a longtime collaborator, featuring on many of the artist's comedy recordings; Peggy Lee on the album Pretty Eyes; Sue Raney on her second album Songs for a Raney Day; Vic Damone on the albums The Lively Ones and Strange Enchantment; Jeri Southern on the album Jeri Southern Meets Cole Porter; Keely Smith on the album Politely and on a duet single, "Nothing In Common"/"How Are Ya Fixed For Love?", with Sinatra; Bobby Darin on the album Oh! Look At Me Now; Nancy Wilson on the albums Like In Love, Something Wonderful, Tender Loving Care, Nancy - Naturally! and various tracks from the albums Just For Now and Lush Life; Matt Monro on several tracks from the album These Years; Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney on the album That Travelin' Two-Beat; and Sir George Shearing on the albums Satin Affair and Burnished Brass, co-arranged with Shearing (May also conducted Shearing's album Concerto For My Love, on which Shearing had sole credit for the arrangements). Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and Academy Award-winning actor, often cited as the finest male American popular song vocalist of the 20th century. ... Come Fly With Me is the name of a 2004 album and video of mainly live songs by Canadian crooner Michael Bublé. The title track was originally sung by Frank Sinatra on his 1958 album of the same name. ... Come Dance With Me! is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1959. ... Come Swing With Me is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1961. ... Nathaniel Adams Coles, known professionally as Nat King Cole (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965) was a popular American singer, songwriter, and jazz pianist. ... Just One Of Those Things may refer to: Just One Of Those Things, a popular song, written by Cole Porter in 1935 for the musical High Society. ... Stanley Victor Freberg (born August 7, 1926 in Los Angeles) is a U.S. voice actor, comedian and advertising creative. ... Peggy Lee (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002) was an American Jazz and Traditional Pop singer and songwriter and Oscar-nominated performer. ... Pretty Eyes is a 1960 studio album (see 1960 in music) by Peggy Lee, arranged by Billy May. ... Vic Damone (born June 12, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York) is an ItalianAmerican singer. ... The Lively Ones were an instrumental surf rock band active in Southern California in the 60s. ... Genevieve Lillian Hering stage-name Jeri Southern (born August 5 , 1926 near Royal, Nebraska; died August 4, 1991 in Los Angeles) was a jazz pianist and singer. ... Keely Smith (born March 9, 1928) is an American jazz and popular music singer who enjoyed great popularity in the 1950s and 1960s through her collaborations with Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra, for which she was much admired for her exquisite singing style and her great beauty. ... Bobby Darin (May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) (born Walden Robert Cassotto) was one of the most popular American big band performers and rock and roll teen idols of the late 1950s. ... Nancy Wilson is the name of two prominent American entertainers: An African-American singer and actress. ... This was Nancy Wilsons second album for Capitol Records, recorded in May 1960 and released the same year. ... Lush Life was an American sitcom starring Lori Petty (A League of Their Own) and Karyn Parsons (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air). ... Matt Monro (December 1, 1932- February 7, 1985) was a ballad singer of the 1960s and one of great international postwar entertainers. ... Harry Lillis Bing Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor whose career lasted from 1926 until his death in 1977. ... Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American popular singer and actress. ... That Travelin Two-Beat was a duet album by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, recorded in August and December 1964 and released on Capitol Records in 1965. ... George Shearing George Shearing (born 13 August 1919 in London) is a well-known jazz pianist. ...

In 1959, May won the Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra - Primarily Not Jazz or for Dancing was awarded from 1959 to 1964. ...

With other record labels

The Crosby-Clooney collaboration was a sequel to their earlier album on RCA Records, Fancy Meeting You Here, also arranged by May. Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around, recorded with Rosemary Clooney was Bing Crosbys ninth LP. Track listing Fancy Meeting You Here (Id Like To Be) On A Slow Boat To China I Cant Get Started Hindustan It Happened In Monterey You Came A...

May’s other non-Capitol work included another Bing Crosby duet album, this time with Louis Armstrong, entitled Bing & Satchmo; a further duet album twinning Bobby Darin with Johnny Mercer, called Two Of A Kind; the sixth in Ella Fitzgerald's acclaimed series of Song Books for Verve Records, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook; a similar dip into the Rodgers and Hart opus with Anita O'Day, entitled Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart; Mel Tormé’s Latin-flavoured album ¡Olé Tormé!; early albums by Jack Jones (Shall We Dance?) and Petula Clark (In Hollywood); one solitary session with Sarah Vaughan for Roulette Records in 1960, to record the single The Green Leaves of Summer and three other tracks; and two more albums with Keely Smith, recorded nearly forty years apart – CheroKeely Swings from 1962 and Keely Sings Sinatra, one of May’s last pieces of work, from 2001. Louis Daniel Armstrong (4 August 1901[1] – July 6, 1971) (also known by the nicknames Satchmo, for satchel-mouth, and Pops) was an American jazz musician. ... Bobby Darin (May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) (born Walden Robert Cassotto) was one of the most popular American big band performers and rock and roll teen idols of the late 1950s. ... Johnny Mercer John Herndon Johnny Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) is regarded as one of Americas greatest songwriters. ... Two of a Kind is the title of a number of film and television productions, including: A 1983 movie with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John which was nominated for Worst Picture at the 1983 Golden Raspberry Awards. ... Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as Lady Ella (the First Lady of Song), was considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century. ... The Ella Fitzgerald Songbooks were a series of eight albums released in irregular intervals between 1956 and 1964. ... Verve Records is an American Jazz record label, founded by Norman Granz in 1956, which absorbed the catalogues of his earlier labels: Norgran Records and Clef Records (founded 1953). ... Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook is a 1961 (see 1961 in music) album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with an Orchestra conducted and arranged by Billy May. ... Rodgers and Hart was the songwriting team consisting of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. ... Anita ODay Anita ODay (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006) was an American jazz singer. ... Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed The Velvet Fog, is best known as one of the great male jazz singers. ... Jack Jones may refer to: Jack Jones (banker) Jack Jones (singer) (born 1938) Jack Jones (novelist) (1884–1970) Jack Jones (trade union leader) (born 1913) Lance-Corporal Jack Jones - a character in the sitcom Dads Army Jack Jones (actor) (There have been several actors with this name. ... The title Shall We Dance? may refer to one of the following. ... Petula Clark, CBE (born November 15, 1932), is a British singer, actress and composer of Welsh and English parentage, best known for her upbeat popular international hits of the 1960s. ... Sarah Lois Vaughan (nicknamed Sassy and The Divine One), (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer, described as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century [1]. // Sarah Vaughan was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1924. ... Roulette Records is a record label which was started late 1956 by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Khals, but the label was soon sold to Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Keely Smith (born March 9, 1928) is an American jazz and popular music singer who enjoyed great popularity in the 1950s and 1960s through her collaborations with Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra, for which she was much admired for her exquisite singing style and her great beauty. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

After Sinatra left Capitol to start his own label, Reprise Records, May continued to provide arrangements for him, off and on, for nearly thirty more years, working on the albums Sinatra Swings, Francis A. & Edward K. (with Duke Ellington) and Trilogy 1: The Past, as well as the chart for what is thought to be Sinatra's last ever solo recording, "Cry Me A River" (1988), which was eventually released on the 20 CD Box Set Frank Sinatra - The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings. In addition, May was the natural choice to arrange Sinatra's knockabout duet with Sammy Davis Jr., Me And My Shadow, which was a hit single on both sides of the Atlantic in 1962, whilst he also contributed to Sinatra's ambitious "Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre" project, providing a few arrangements for three of its four albums, South Pacific, Kiss Me, Kate and Guys And Dolls, May's charts being variously performed by Sinatra, Davis, Crosby, Dean Martin, Jo Stafford and Lou Monte and yielding a perennial Sinatra concert favourite, "Luck Be A Lady" from Guys And Dolls. Reprise Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group, operated through Warner Bros. ... Sinatra Swings (alternately titled Swing Along With Me) is an album by Frank Sinatra, released in 1961. ... Francis A. & Edward K. is a 1968 album by Frank Sinatra featuring Duke Ellington and his big band. ... Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington (April 29, 1899, Washington, D.C.; d. ... Cry Me a River is a popular song. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sammy Davis, Jr. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Reprise is also the name of a record label, see Reprise Records In music a reprise is the repetition or return of the opening material later in a composition such as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though it originally (18th century) was simply any repeated section, such as... South Pacific is a musical play, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. When it first opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949, it was produced by Leland Hayward and directed by Joshua Logan. ... Kiss Me, Kate is a stage musical by Samuel and Bella Spewack (book) and Cole Porter (music and lyrics) that ran for 1,077 performances and was first performed in New York on December 30, 1948. ... Guys and Dolls Original Broadway Cast recording (1950) Guys And Dolls is a hit 1950 musical. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (born November 12, 1917) is a singer whose career spanned the late 1920s through the early 1960s. ... Lou Monte, born Louis Scaglione on (April 2, 1917 – June 12, 1989), was an Italian-American singer best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records which he recorded for both RCA Records and Reprise Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s. ... Luck Be a Lady is a song written by Frank Loesser and performed by Robert Alda. ... Guys and Dolls Original Broadway Cast recording (1950) Guys And Dolls is a hit 1950 musical. ...

In 1958 May arranged a holiday album on Warner Bros. Records featuring the Jimmy Joyce Singers, titled A Christmas to Remember. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Warner Bros. ...

Musical style

May's charts often featured brisk tempos and intricate brass parts. One distinctive feature of his style is his frequent use of trumpet mute devices; another, a saxophone glissando, is widely known as his "slurping saxes". However, May was also an accomplished writer in slower tempos, sometimes using string arrangements. Good examples of this aspect of his work include his brass chart for "These Foolish Things" on the Cole album Just One Of Those Things and his string arrangement of "April In Paris" on Sinatra's Come Fly With Me album.