Editing Billy May

{{Short description|American composer, arranger and trumpeter (1916–2004)}}
{{about|the American musician|the English footballer|Billy May (footballer)|the synchronized swimmer|Bill May (synchronized swimmer)|the pitchman|Billy Mays}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name        = Billy May
| image       = Billy+May+trumpeter composer.jpg
| image_size  =
| birth_name  = Edward William May Jr.
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1916|11|10}}
| birth_place = [[Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|2004|1|22|1916|11|10}}
| death_place = [[San Juan Capistrano, California]], U.S.
| genre       = [[Big band]]
| occupation  = Musician, composer, arranger
| instrument  = Trumpet
}}

'''Edward William May Jr.'''<ref name="IM"/> (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''[[The Green Hornet (TV series)|The Green Hornet]]'' (1966), ''[[The Mod Squad (TV series)|The Mod Squad]]'' (1968), ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' (with ''[[Batgirl]]'' theme, 1967),<ref name="IM">{{IMDb name|561877}}</ref> and ''[[Naked City (TV series)|Naked City]]'' (1960). He collaborated on films such as ''[[Pennies from Heaven (1981 film)|Pennies from Heaven]]'' (1981), and orchestrated ''[[Cocoon (film)|Cocoon]]'', and ''[[Cocoon: The Return]]'', among others.

May wrote arrangements for many top singers, including [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Yma Sumac]], [[Nat King Cole]], [[Anita O'Day]], [[Peggy Lee]], [[Vic Damone]], [[Bobby Darin]], [[Johnny Mercer]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[Louis Prima]], [[Keely Smith]], [[Jack Jones (singer)|Jack Jones]], [[Bing Crosby]], [[Sandler and Young]], [[Nancy Wilson (jazz singer)|Nancy Wilson]], [[Rosemary Clooney]], [[The Andrews Sisters]] and [[Ella Mae Morse]]. He also collaborated with satirist [[Stan Freberg]] on several classic 1950s and 1960s comedy music albums.

As a trumpet player in the 1940s [[Big band#History|Big Band era]], May recorded such songs as "Measure for Measure", "Long Tall Mama", and "[[Boom Shot]]", with Glenn Miller and His Orchestra,<ref name=IM/> and "The Wrong Idea", "Lumby", and "Wings Over Manhattan" with [[Charlie Barnet]] and His Orchestra.<ref name=IM/> With his own band, he had a hit single, "[[Charmaine (song)|Charmaine]]". In the 1950s he released several successful albums of his unique orchestral arrangements and compositions, including ''Sorta-May'' and ''Sorta-Dixie.''

==Early life and music==
May was born in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]]. He started out playing the tuba in the high school band. "I sat in the rear of the [band]stand", he said. "I didn't realize it at the time, but I was intrigued with becoming an arranger and an orchestrator."<ref name="Friedwald">{{Cite book |title=Sinatra! The Song Is You |author=Will Friedwald |year=1997 |pages=278–82 |publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=978-0-306-80742-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MDX1V3cap-MC }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> At the age of 17, he began playing with Gene Olsen's Polish-American Orchestra.<ref name="Friedwald"/>

==Swing era and big bands==
May moved to New York City at age 22 to become chief arranger for the [[Charlie Barnet]] Orchestra. He held this position from February 1939 until October 1940, and joined its trumpet section in June 1939.<ref>{{cite book |title=Those Swinging Years: The Autobiography of Charlie Barnet |last1=Barnet |first1=Charlie |authorlink=Charlie Barnet |first2=Stanley |last2=Dance |year=1984 |publisher=Da Capo |location=New York |pages=69–88 }}</ref> May's contract with Barnet called for writing at extraordinary speed: four new arrangements per week, about 70 of which were recorded and commercially released by RCA Victor on the [[Bluebird Records|Bluebird]] label. May arranged some of Barnet's best-selling records, including "Pompton Turnpike" and "Leapin' at the Lincoln", but it was May's now-classic arrangement of Ray Noble's "[[Cherokee (Ray Noble song)|Cherokee]]" that launched Barnet and his band to national stardom.<ref>{{cite book |title=Charlie Barnet: An Illustrated Biography and Discography |last=Mather |first=Dan |year=2002 |publisher=McFarland & Company |location=Jefferson, NC |pages=32–67 }}</ref>

At Barnet's request, May closely studied the musical language of Barnet's idol, [[Duke Ellington]]. May soon developed a harmonic and sonic palette rich with Ellingtonian colors. The Ellington influence is apparent in some of May's arrangements of new pop songs including "Danger in the Dark" and "Strange Enchantment". They are on full display in May's arrangements of Ellington's own compositions, particularly "The Sergeant Was Shy", "Ring Dem Bells", and "[[Rockin' in Rhythm]]". Ellington even reciprocated the musical respect by recording his own arrangement of "In a Mizz",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/NMAH.AC.0301_ref59887 |title=In A Mizz - Charlie Barnet, 301.609-.610 |accessdate=2023-04-14 |last= |first= |date= |format= |publisher= |pages= |quote= }}</ref> a Charlie Barnet original arranged by May in June 1939.

May's first recorded serious composition for jazz orchestra was ''Wings Over Manhattan'', a three-part suite celebrating the "aviation" theme of the [[1939 New York World's Fair|1939-1940 New York World's Fair]] for which it was written. It is also a musical salute to Ellington, showing the influence of Ellington's longer-form works like ''Reminiscing in Tempo'' and ''[[Symphony in Black]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Music of Billy May: A Discography |last=Mirtle |first=Jack |year= |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |page=6 }}</ref> Composer/historian Gunther Schuller felt that by age 23, Billy May's command of Ellington's compositional language had become so convincing that "the 'disciple' could hardly be distinguished from the 'master'."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945 |last=Schuller |first=Gunther |year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |pages=717 }}</ref>

May's sense of musical humor—which later became one of the hallmarks of his sound—began to take shape with the Charlie Barnet Orchestra, as evident in his arrangements of novelty numbers like "Six Lessons From Madame La Zonga". May's earliest recorded musical parody—a comedic skill he would later master with comedian [[Stan Freberg]]—was "The Wrong Idea", an original song by May and Barnet, with syrupy vocal and comically bad trumpet soloing by May (whom Barnet introduces as "Slappy Habits"). Barnet called "The Wrong Idea" a "flagrant burlesque" of the best-selling "sweet" bands of the day led by Kay Kyser and [[Sammy Kaye]], whose motto "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye" becomes "Swing and Sweat with Charlie Barnet" when May sings it.<ref>{{cite book |title=Those Swinging Years: The Autobiography of Charlie Barnet |last1=Barnet |first1=Charlie |authorlink=Charlie Barnet |first2=Stanley |last2=Dance |year=1984 |publisher=Da Capo |location=New York |pages=93 }}</ref>

May and Barnet remained close throughout their lives, and May arranged another 36 titles for the Barnet Orchestra between 1954 and 1970.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Music of Billy May: A Discography |last=Mirtle |first=Jack |year= |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |pages=481 }}</ref>

The original manuscript scores, and some of the original band parts, for about 80 of May's arrangements for Barnet are now housed at the Music Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where they are open to the public for research.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://loc.gov/performingarts/encyclopedia/collections/barnet.html |title=Charlie Barnet Collection |accessdate=2023-04-14 |last= |first= |website=[[Library of Congress]] |date= |publisher= |pages= |quote= }}</ref> Many others were destroyed in the 1939 fire at the [[Palomar Ballroom]] in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Music of Billy May: A Discography |last=Mirtle |first=Jack |year= |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |pages=4–6 }}</ref>

Bandleader [[Glenn Miller]] hired May away from Barnet in 1940. "May points out that he was not responsible for any of the [Glenn Miller] band's signature hits, but he did write the beautiful left-field introduction to [Bill] Finegan's [arrangement of] 'Serenade In Blue'".<ref name="Friedwald" />

Miller and May had a wary relationship. According to Will Friedwald, by 1942 May was ready to resign from the Miller band. Miller refused to record half of May's arrangements, and May objected to Miller's regimented style. But since Miller was joining the military, he convinced May to stay on until the band broke up. May said around 1995 (after a life of heavy drinking and rehabilitation for alcoholism) that working with Miller "helped me immensely. I learned a lot from Glenn. He was a good musician and an excellent arranger."<ref>''Sinatra! The Song Is You''. Will Friedwald, p. 280.</ref>

==Later career==

When the era of the Big Bands ended in the late 1940s, May relocated to Los Angeles, where he became a much-coveted arranger and studio orchestra leader, working for top recording stars of the day including Frank Sinatra,<ref name="May">{{cite web |title=Billy May |url=http://www.spaceagepop.com/may.htm |website=Spaceagepop.com |access-date=18 July 2018}}</ref> Rosemary Clooney,<ref name="Fancy">{{cite web |title=Fancy Meeting You Here|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/fancy-meeting-you-here-mw0000014339/credits |website=AllMusic |access-date=18 July 2018}}</ref> Anita O'Day and Bing Crosby.

=== 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>

=== Other record labels ===
The Crosby-Clooney collaboration was a sequel to their earlier, more successful album on RCA Victor, ''[[Fancy Meeting You Here]]'', also arranged by May, whose 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]] (''Two of a Kind''); the sixth in [[Ella Fitzgerald]]'s acclaimed series of ''[[The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books|Song Books]]'' for [[Verve Records]], ''[[Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook]]''; similar dips into [[Cole Porter]] and [[Rodgers and Hart]] with [[Anita O'Day]] (''[[Anita O'Day Swings Cole Porter with Billy May]]'' and ''[[Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart]]''; both on Verve); [[Mel Tormé]]'s Latin-flavoured album (''[[¡Olé Tormé!: Mel Tormé Goes South of the Border with Billy May]]''); [[Jane Russell]]'s self-titled album on [[MGM Records]] in 1958; early albums by [[Jack Jones (singer)|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. May arranged and conducted ''[[Once More with Feeling (Billy Eckstine album)|Once More with Feeling]]'', a 1960 studio album by singer [[Billy Eckstine]] on Roulette.

May also arranged and recorded one album in Cleveland with Cosmic Records; ''Guess Who''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collectorsfrenzy.com/details/221078937134/Jerry_Lee_w_Billy_May_Orchestra_Guess_Who_Cosmic_5100_Cheesecake_Private|title=CollectorsFrenzy - Jerry Lee w/ Billy May Orchestra "Guess Who" Cosmic 5100 Cheesecake; Private|access-date=2014-04-08|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408214247/http://collectorsfrenzy.com/details/221078937134/Jerry_Lee_w_Billy_May_Orchestra_Guess_Who_Cosmic_5100_Cheesecake_Private|archive-date=2014-04-08}}</ref> for artist Jerry Lee (Jerry Principe) at the Golden Key Club; and two more albums with [[Keely Smith]], recorded nearly 40 years apart: ''CheroKeely Swings'' from 1962; and ''Keely Sings Sinatra'', one of May's last projects, from 2001.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

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: Past Present Future|Trilogy 1: The Past]]'', as well as the chart for one of Sinatra's last ever solo recordings, "[[Cry Me a River (1953 song)|Cry Me a River]]" (1988).{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

May arranged 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, while he contributed to Sinatra's ambitious "[[Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre]]" project, providing a few arrangements for three of its four albums, ''[[South Pacific (musical)|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''.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

In 1958, May arranged a Christmas album on [[Warner Bros. Records]] featuring [[The Jimmy Joyce Singers]], titled ''A Christmas to Remember''. In 1983, May arranged the song "He Came Here For Me" for [[the Carpenters]]' ''[[An Old-Fashioned Christmas]]'' album on A&M Records.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

== Musical style ==
May's charts often featured brisk tempos and intricate brass parts. One distinctive feature is his frequent use of trumpet mute devices. Another was a saxophone glissando, widely known as his "slurping saxes". In slower tempos, he sometimes utilized string sections; good examples of this aspect of his work include his brass chart for "[[These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)]]" on the Cole album ''Just One of Those Things''; his string arrangement of "[[April in Paris (song)|April in Paris]]" on Sinatra's ''Come Fly With Me'' album; and his arrangement of "[[I Can't Get Started]]" on Keely Smith's ''Politely'', which includes a nod to May in the lyrics ("Billy May arranged this for me").<ref>{{cite web|title=Keely Smith - I Can't Get Started [Mono Vinyl]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NJyBTn72zA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/-NJyBTn72zA| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|website=YouTube|access-date=April 28, 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

== Film and television ==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2017}}
May can be seen on trumpet with the Glenn Miller Orchestra in ''[[Sun Valley Serenade]]'' (1941), including a solo in "[[In the Mood]]", and in ''[[Orchestra Wives]]'' (1942).

In 1957, May made his debut as a film composer with [[Jane Russell]]'s ''[[The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown]]''; the soundtrack was released on Imperial Records. His film scores include the [[Rat Pack]] film ''[[Sergeants 3]]'' (1962), ''[[Johnny Cool]]'' (1963), ''[[Tony Rome]]'' (1967), ''[[The Secret Life of an American Wife]]'' (1968), ''[[The Ballad of Andy Crocker]]'' (1969), and ''[[The Front Page (1974 film)|The Front Page]]'' (1974), and several big band arrangements used in the 1991 Disney film ''[[The Rocketeer (film)|The Rocketeer]]'', including [[Melora Hardin]] performing [[Cole Porter]]'s "[[Begin the Beguine]]".

His compositions for television include "Somewhere in the Night", the theme for ''[[Naked City (TV series)|Naked City]]'' (1960), and his jazzy arrangement of "[[Flight of the Bumblebee]]" for ''[[The Green Hornet (TV series)|The Green Hornet]]'' (1966) with trumpet by [[Al Hirt]]. He composed the Batgirl theme for ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' (1966). He and Nelson Riddle wrote music for episodes of ''Naked City'' (1960), ''Batman'' (1966), ''The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''[[Emergency!]]'' (1972), and ''[[CHiPs]]'' (1977).

May also arranged and produced the song "River of No Return" for [[Tennessee Ernie Ford]] to sing in the 1954 [[River of No Return|film of the same name]] starring [[Marilyn Monroe]] and [[Robert Mitchum]]. Billy May and His Orchestra are also credited as playing themselves in the film [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049553/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm ''Nightmare''] (1956), starring [[Edward G. Robinson]], and May as music and vocal arranger of music by [[Herschel Burke Gilbert]], who was the musical director.

== Compositions ==
May's compositions included "Long Tall Mama" and "Measure for Measure", recorded with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, "[[Boom Shot]]", written with Miller (May's wife Arletta originally received credit as co-author in his place){{citation needed|date=December 2017}} for the soundtrack of the 1942 movie ''[[Orchestra Wives]]'', "Harlem Chapel Bells", which was performed with Glenn Miller and his Orchestra on April 2, 1941, and broadcast on the [[Chesterfield (cigarette)|Chesterfield]] ''Moonlight Serenade'' radio program, "Lean Baby", "Fat Man Boogie", "Ping Pong", "Jooms Jones", "Gabby Goose", "Lumby", "Daisy Mae" and "Friday Afternoon" with [[Hal McIntyre]], "Miles Behind", "The Wrong Idea" with Charlie Barnet, "Wings Over Manhattan", "Filet of Soul", "Mayhem", "Gin and Tonic", and "Solving the Riddle".{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

But his biggest hit as a composer was the children's song "[[I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat (song)|I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat]]", which he recorded with [[Mel Blanc]] in 1950.<ref name="Friedwald"/>

Another of May's arrangements, "Be My Host", served as the fanfare on ''[[The Newlywed Game]]'' when host Bob Eubanks announced the winning couple.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

== Selected recordings ==
May arranged and conducted for many prominent singers. This list highlights some of his recordings that focused on his own bands, compositions and arrangements.

=== Singles ===
*1952: "Charmaine" (Capitol 1919) charted for two weeks, peaked at No. 17<ref>{{cite book|title= Pop Memories 1890-1954|last= Whitburn|first= Joel|year= 1986|publisher= Record Research In|isbn= 0-89820-083-0|page= [https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/303 303 of 657]|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/303}}</ref>
*1954: "[[Don't Worry 'bout Me|Don't Worry 'Bout Me]]" (Capitol F2787) reached No. 17 in the Billboard charts that year. Although Nelson Riddle conducted the session, Sinatra cites Billy May as the arranger during a May 1978 performance in Las Vegas.
*1956: [[(Themes from) The Man with the Golden Arm|"Main title from ''The Man With the Golden Arm''"]] (Capitol 3372) charted for fourteen weeks, peaked at No. 49;<ref>{{cite book|title=Top Pop Singles 1955-1999|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|year=2000|publisher=Record Research In|isbn= 0-89820-139-X|page=415}}</ref> and [[UK Singles Chart|UK]] No. 9<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book|first=David|last=Roberts|year=2006|title=[[British Hit Singles & Albums]]|edition=19th|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|location=London, UK|isbn=1-904994-10-5|page=356}}</ref>

=== Albums ===
* 1948 ''Join the Band''
* 1952 ''[[A Band Is Born]]''
* 1952 ''A Big Band Bash''
* 1953 ''Billy May's Bacchanalia''
* 1954 ''Sorta-Dixie''
* 1955 ''Sorta-May''
* 1955 ''Naughty Operetta''
* 1955 ''[[Arthur Murray Cha Cha Mambos]]''
* 1957 ''Jimmy Lunceford in Hi-Fi''
* 1957 ''Plays for Fancy Dancin' ''
* 1958 ''Billy May's Big Fat Brass''
* 1960 ''Cha Cha! Billy May''
* 1960 ''The Girls and Boys on Broadway''
* 1962 ''The Sweetest Swingin' Sounds of Billy May''
* 1962 ''Process 70''
* 1963 ''Bill's Bag''
* 1966 ''Billy May Today!''

=== The Complete Billy May Sessions Personnel ===
The Billy May Sessions were included into the Nat "King" Cole's album called the same way.

With the help of Billy May's orchestra, all 43 of Nat King Cole's studio recordings, including two duets with Dean Martin and a repeat of "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" from 1961, are presented here for the first time as a single collection.

Personnel:

Harry "Sweets" Edison - Trumpet
Pete Candoli - Trumpet
Buddy Collette, Plas Johnson, Ted Nash, Willie Smith - Woodwinds Section
Jimmy Rowles - Piano
Johnny Collins - Guitar
Charlie Harris - Bass
Lee Young - Drums

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book|title=The Music of Billy May: A Discography|last=Mirtle|first=Jack|year=1998|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-30739-3}}
https://www.jazzmessengers.com/en/73986/nat-king-cole/the-complete-billy-may-sessions#:~:text=The%20Complete%20Billy%20May%20Sessions%20(EJC%2055720)&text=Harry%20%E2%80%9CSweets%E2%80%9D%20Edison%2C%20Pete,Hollywood%2C%20between%201951%20and%201961.

== External links ==
* {{imdb name|0561877}}
* [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p7076|pure_url=yes}} Billy May profile] at Allmusic
* {{discogs artist|Billy May}}
*[https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/billy-may National Association of Music Merchants Oral History Interview with Billy May], namm.org, April 4, 2002
*[https://findingaids.loc.gov/db/search/xq/searchMfer02.xq?_id=loc.music.eadmus.mu010030&_faSection=overview&_faSubsection=did&_dmdid= Billy May arrangements, 1939-1995] at the [http://loc.gov/ Library of Congress]
{{Glenn Miller|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Billy}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:American male composers]]
[[Category:American music arrangers]]
[[Category:American jazz bandleaders]]
[[Category:American big band bandleaders]]
[[Category:People from San Juan Capistrano, California]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Capitol Records artists]]
[[Category:Jazz arrangers]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:American male jazz musicians]]
[[Category:Glenn Miller Orchestra members]]