Billy May: 1951-53

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Before Frank Sinatra signed with Capitol Records in 1953, the label already had on staff a growing team of arrangers and bandleaders that were pouring the foundation for a neo-swing era. With the rise of suburbia, thanks in part to the G.I. Bill, albums of 78s and 45s by vocalists and instrumental pop orchestras were in greater demand by young adults for whom R&B and classical music meant little. To meet the growing demand, Capitol turned to conductor-arrangers like Paul Weston, Nelson Riddle, Les Baxter, Frank De Vol and Skitch Henderson. But perhaps the label's most signature arranger between 1951 and 1953 was Billy May.

May's instrumental recordings weren't quite soothing pop or cerebral jazz but a swaggering mix of swinging bombast and nattering orchestral sections. His fingerprint sound rested on saxophones bending notes almost in a wail. The dragged notes, particularly among the alto saxes, would become closely identified with Sinatra after he began recording May-arranged material.

One could argue that May invented the cocky updating of the big band sound that Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Peggy Lee slipped into comfortably later in the 1950s. This sound is certainly evident on a two-CD set—Billy May & His Orchestra: Studio Recordings 1951-1953. Over the course of these two years, May was orchestrated a new sound that seemed to be a mashing of Glenn Miller, Sy Oliver and Stan Kenton. Listening to these sides now provides a glimpse into May's approach and how it developed at Capitol. Instead of syrupy instrumentals, May's arrangements had a brashness, like someone stumbling around metal ash cans while trying to find the house keys after one too many. There also was a long-legged slyness about the charts, with one section (often the reeds) leading the melody while the trumpets and trombones exploded here and there with squawking commentary. 

Ultimately, May's early instrumentals captured Hollywood's bright optimism of the early 1950s. Their slinky humor and punchy confidence make one think of Kodacolor home movies featuring hulking black and emerald cars with round lines, red-and-cream plaid shirts, sand-toned Los Angeles deco buildings, drive-in hamburger stands, new highways and desert suburbia. As this set shows, May doesn't get nearly enough credit for inventing a new '50s sound.

Billy May died in 2004.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Billy May & His Orchestra: Studio Recordings, 1951-1953 (Jasmine) here.

JazzWax clips: Here's My Silent Love (1951). Dig the reed rundown at the end...

Here's My Last Affair (1952)...

Here's Easy Street (1952), with the bending saxes...

Here's Billy May's Hollywood in 1952, via a brief home movie of Walter Shields, a trombonist in Ray Anthony's band...

Here's Beany's Drive-In Restaurant in Long Beach in 1952...

And here's Los Angeles in 1954...

Used with permission by Marc Myers