Editing Billy May (section)

=== With Capitol Records ===
{{more citations needed|section|date=December 2017}}
At Capitol, May wrote arrangements for many top artists.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=810}}</ref> These included [[Frank Sinatra]] on the albums ''[[Come Fly with Me (Frank Sinatra album)|Come Fly with Me]]'' (1958), ''[[Come Dance with Me! (album)|Come Dance with Me!]]'' (1959) and ''[[Come Swing with Me!]]'' (1961); [[Nat King Cole]] on the albums ''[[Just One of Those Things (album)|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 2-CD set ''The Billy May Sessions''); [[Peggy Lee]] on the albums ''[[Pretty Eyes]]'' and ''[[Christmas Carousel]]''; [[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 (jazz singer)|Nancy Wilson]] on the albums ''Like In Love'', ''[[Something Wonderful (album)|Something Wonderful]]'', ''Tender Loving Care'', ''Nancy - Naturally!'' and various tracks from the albums ''Just For Now'' and ''[[Lush Life (Nancy Wilson album)|Lush Life]]''; [[Matt Monro]] on several tracks from the albums ''Invitation to the Movies'', ''Invitation to Broadway'', and ''These Years''; [[Bing Crosby]] and [[Rosemary Clooney]] on the albums ''[[That Travelin' Two-Beat]]'' and ''Fancy Meeting You Here''; 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).

May's orchestra was featured on many Capitol Records children's projects, including cowboy star, [[Hopalong Cassidy]]. He worked closely with early 1950s satirist [[Stan Freberg]], using his arranging skills to help Freberg create his spoofs of current hits by creating musical backing often stunningly close to the original hit single.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

On Freberg's ''Wun'erful, Wun'erful!'' a lacerating spoof of bandleader [[Lawrence Welk]], May hired some of Hollywood's best jazz musicians, who relished the idea of mocking the financially successful but musically medocre Welk sound, which they considered the epitome of "square". The result was a note-perfect recreation of Welk's sound as Freberg and a group of vocalists performed parodies of Welk's "musical family". Freberg recounted that Welk was less than amused by the recording.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

May also composed and conducted the music for Freberg's short-lived comedy radio series on [[CBS]], which ran for 15 episodes in 1957. His sendup of trashy horror-film music ("Gray Flannel Hat Full of Teenage Werewolves") is notable.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

May won two [[Grammy Award]]s, including [[Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra|Best Performance by an Orchestra]] in 1958 and Best Arrangement in 1959.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/billy-may|title=Billy May|date=2017-05-14|work=grammy.com|access-date=2018-01-04|language=en}}</ref> Much of his work for Capitol has been reissued on the [[Ultra-Lounge]] CD series.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

In the late 1960s into the early 1970s, May conducted many recreations of big band era classics, recorded by Capitol. May transcribed note for note from the original recordings of big band legends such as Charlie Barnet, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and others and then conducted a group of all-star veteran musicians on the sessions, including some of the original performers such as singers Helen Forrest, Helen Ward and Tex Beneke. The Time-Life label released these as boxed sets titled as "The Swing Era," whose marketing was focused on the fact that these high-fidelity stereo recordings allowed listeners to enjoy the music with a depth and realism that the 78 rpm recordings of that era had never been able to fully capture.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bsnpubs.com/warner/time-life/04swing/04swing.html|title=Time-Life Album Discography, Part 4|website=Bsnpubs.com|access-date=28 September 2021}}</ref>