The last of the great arrangers who wrote regularly for
Frank Sinatra,
Billy May had several varied careers in and out of
jazz. His first notable gig was as an arranger/trumpeter with
Charlie Barnet (1938-1940), for whom he wrote the wah-wah-ing hit arrangement of
Ray Noble's "Cherokee." Later, he worked in the same capacities for
Glenn Miller (1940-1942) and
Les Brown (1942) before settling into staff jobs, first at NBC studios, then at Capitol Records, where he led his own studio
big band from 1951 to 1954. His arrangements for
Sinatra, beginning with Come Fly With Me (1957) and ending with Trilogy (1979), are often in a walloping, brassy, even taunting
swing mode, generating some of the singer's most swaggering vocals.
May also did extensive scoring for television, film, and commercials. Although
May was largely inactive in the '80s and '90s , he unexpectedly surfaced in 1996 with some typically bright
big band charts for comic
Stan Freberg's The United States of America, Vol. 2 (Rhino), 25 years after his contributions to Vol. 1. The veteran arranger died quietly at home on January 22, 2004 at the age of 87. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide
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May Time [Montpellier]