Charles William Butterfield (January 14, 1917 – March 18, 1988) was an American jazz

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues o ...

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

, flugelhornist, and

cornetist The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopra ...

Early years

Charles William Butterfield was born in

Middletown, Ohio Middletown is a city located in Butler and Warren counties in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, about 35 miles (47 km) north of Cincinnati. The population as of the 2020 census was 50,987. It is part of the Cincinnati metrop ...

and attended high school in Wyoming. Although he studied medicine at Transylvania College, he preferred playing in bands, and he studied cornet with Frank Simon. He discontinued his studies after finding success as a trumpeter.

Career

Early in his career he played in the band of

Austin Wylie Austin James Wylie (1893 – December 7, 1947) was an American jazz bandleader. Biography Wylie led a dance band in the 1920s and early 1930s which operated as a territory band based out of Cleveland, Ohio, though he also broadcast on national r ...

. He gained attention working with

Bob Crosby George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the young ...

(1937–1940), and later performed with

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

, Les Brown, and

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conc ...

. While with Bob Crosby, he initially played third trumpet behind

Charlie Spivak Charlie Spivak (February 17, 1907 – March 1, 1982) was an American trumpeter and bandleader, best known for his big band in the 1940s. Early life The details of Spivak's birth are unclear. Some sources place it in Ukraine in 1907, and that h ...

and Yank Lawson. When those two left Crosby to join

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

's band in 1938, Butterfield was given the opportunity to solo on a song written by Crosby bassist

Bob Haggart Robert Sherwood Haggart (March 13, 1914 – December 2, 1998) was an American dixieland jazz double bass player, composer, and arranger. Although he is associated with dixieland, he was one of the finest rhythm bassists of the Swing Era. Music ...

, initially titled "I'm Free." When lyrics were added, it became the well-known standard " What's New?". On October 7, 1940, during his brief stay with Artie Shaw's orchestra, Butterfield performed what has been described as a "legendary trumpet solo" on the hit song " Star Dust". He was also a featured soloist in the small group from Shaw's band, the Gramercy Five. Between 1943 and 1947, taking a break to serve in the United States armed forces, Butterfield led his own orchestra. On September 20, 1944,

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

recorded the

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive li ...

" Moonlight In Vermont", which featured a vocal by

Margaret Whiting Margaret Eleanor Whiting (July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011) was an American popular music and country music singer who gained popularity in the 1940s and 1950s.Mapes, Jillian.Margaret Whiting, Iconic Standards Singer, Dies at 86. ''Billboard' ...

and trumpet solos (both open and muted) by Butterfield. The liner notes from the CD ''Capitol from the Vaults, Volume 2, "Vine Street Divas"'' indicate that, although Billy Butterfield & His Orchestra were credited with the song, it was really the Les Brown band recording under the name of Billy Butterfield, because Brown was under contract to another label at the time. Butterfield recorded two albums with arranger-conductor

Ray Conniff Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s. Biography Conniff was born November 6, 1916 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, United St ...

, ''Conniff Meets Butterfield'', (1959) and ''Just Kiddin' Around'' (1962). Later in the 1960s he recorded two albums with his own orchestra for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

. The trumpeter was a member of the World's Greatest Jazz Band, led by former Crosby bandmates Yank Lawson and Bob Haggart, from the late 1960s until his death in 1988. He also freelanced as a guest star with many bands all over the world, and performed at many jazz festivals, including the Manassas Jazz Festival and Dick Gibson's Bash in Colorado.

Film

Butterfield was seen in the film '' Second Chorus'' (1940) as a member of an orchestra led by

Personal life

Butterfield was married to singer Dotty Dare Smith.

Death

Butterfield died on March 18, 1988, in North Palm Beach, Florida. He was 71.

Discography

* ''Stardusting'' (

, 1950) * ''Billy Butterfield'' (1955) * ''New York Land Dixie'' (1955) * ''They're Playing Our Song'' (

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, 1956) * ''Session at Riverside'' (Capitol, 1957) * ''Conniff Meets Butterfield'' (with

; Columbia, 1959) * ''I'm In The Mood'' (Belldisc Italiana, 1959) * ''Billy Blows His Horn'' (Columbia, 1961) * ''The Golden Horn'' (Columbia, 1962) * ''Just Kiddin' Around'' (with

; Columbia, 1963) * ''Songs Bix Beiderbecke Played'' ( Epic, 1969) * ''With Ted Easton's Jazzband'' (

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is cons ...

, 1975) * ''Watch What Happens'' ( Jazzology, 1977) * ''Swinging at the Elks'' (Fat Cat Jazz, 1978) * ''You Can Depend on Me'' (Fat Cat Jazz, 1980) * ''Just Friends'' (Jazzology, 1982) * ''The Incomparable Butterfield Horn'' (Fat Cat Jazz, 2002) * ''Recipe for Romance'' (

Collectors' Choice Music Collectors' Choice Music (CCM) is an Itasca, Illinois, company originally primarily in two businesses, but since 2010 only in the second. CCM was best known for reissuing albums originally recorded in LP record form as compact discs. , its catalo ...

, 2003) * ''Soft Strut'' (

Fresh Sound Fresh Sound, or Fresh Sound New Talent, is a jazz record label established in Barcelona, Spain, by Jordi Pujol. The label was initially founded as a reissue label. The catalog includes work by musicians both major and minor that was recorded be ...

, 2004) * ''What Is There to Say'' (

Jasmine Jasmine ( taxonomic name: ''Jasminum''; , ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are widely culti ...

, 2005) With

Buck Clayton Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record "Confessin' That I Love You" ...

*''

All the Cats Join In ''All the Cats Join In'' is a song written by Ray Gilbert, Eddie Sauter and Alec Wilder, and first recorded by Benny Goodman. It later was a track on an LP with the same title by trumpeter Buck Clayton. Benny Goodman Curiously, Goodman recor ...

'' (Columbia, 1956)

References

External links

Jazz trumpet transcriptions
*

All Music AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

br>Billy Butterfield Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (1985)
Billy Butterfield recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterfield, Billy 1917 births 1988 deaths Big band bandleaders Dixieland trumpeters Traditional pop musicians Swing trumpeters American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters RCA Victor artists 20th-century American musicians 20th-century trumpeters People from Middletown, Ohio People from North Palm Beach, Florida Jazz musicians from Ohio 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians World's Greatest Jazz Band members Jazzology Records artists Columbia Records artists Capitol Records artists