A superb all-round trumpeter, Billy Butterfield had a warm tone, strong technical skills, and a versatile style that found him equally at home playing swing, Dixieland, as part of big bands, with a studio orchestra, or jamming with a local pickup group. He could play lead in a large ensemble while always being a reliable soloist who added heat to any record date or performance. While he loved Louis Armstrong’s playing, he had his own sound from nearly the start of his career.
He was born as Charles William Butterfield on Jan.14, 1917 in Middletown, Ohio, growing up in Wyoming. While the cornet was his first instrument, he also played violin, bass, and trombone before settling on the trumpet. Butterfield studied medicine at Transylvania College in Kentucky and seemed headed for a medical career but the lure of music won his heart when he gained popularity playing with the college dance orchestra. He worked early on with the bands of Dick Raymond, Andy Anderson, and Austin Wylie.
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Billy Butterfield’s career really got going when the 20-year old trumpeter joined Bob Crosby’s orchestra in the fall of 1937.He made his recording debut with Crosby on Nov. 16, 1937. At first he was primarily an ensemble player since Yank Lawson was the band’s hot trumpet. However that changed in mid-1938 when Lawson left to join Tommy Dorsey. For the next two years, Butterfield took most of the trumpet solos not only with the big band but the Dixieland-oriented combo dawn from the orchestra called Bob Crosby’s Bobcats. He was showcased on the original version of Bob Haggart’s ballad “I’m Free” (which when given lyrics was renamed “What’s New”) and had his spots with the Bobcats on such numbers as “Hindustan,” “Till We Meet Again,” “The Love Nest,” “Spain,” and “Jazz Me Blues.”
In the summer of 1940, Butterfield left Bob Crosby, played briefly with Bob Strong’s orchestra, and then became a member of Artie Shaw’s new big band just in time to appear in the Hollywood movie Second Chorus. Butterfield can be seen soloing on “Concerto For Clarinet” and he ghosted the trumpet playing of actor Burgess Meredith. Shaw was quite impressed with Butterfield’s playing and used him liberally both in his orchestra and his Gramercy Five. Butterfield took a fine solo on the recorded version of “Concerto For Clarinet,” was the only other horn player with Shaw’s Gramercy Five (their recording of “Summit Ridge Drive” was a major hit), and had one of his finest moments playing the melodic opening chorus to Shaw’s magnificent version of “Stardust.” But after seven months, Artie Shaw typically broke up what was arguably his finest orchestra and the trumpeter was at liberty for a few minutes. Just three days after his last appearance with Shaw, he was recording with the King of Swing.
Billy Butterfield spent much of 1941 as a member of the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Since Cootie Williams was also with Goodman for much of the time, Butterfield’s solo opportunities were limited but his tone and musicianship helped bolster the trumpet section. Unfortunately Butterfield did not have any opportunities to record with Goodman’s small groups but the clarinetist hired him on a variety of occasions in future years.
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The trumpeter worked with Les Brown for a few months starting in December 1941 and had record dates with Brown, Claude Thornhill’s big band, Lee Wiley (the first time that he recorded with Eddie Condon), Mel Powell (a septet session that included Benny Goodman), Mildred Bailey, and Paul Whiteman. Right before the musicians’ recording strike in mid-1942, Butterfield led his first record date, resulting in the ballad “My Ideal” and a feature for singer Margaret Whiting on “Without Love.”
Billy Butterfield freelanced for the next couple of years and, starting when the strike ended (at least for some of the small labels) in late 1943, was on quite a few sessions despite also serving in the military. He recorded with a Will Bradley combo, Una Mae Carlisle, a Johnny Guarnieri set that included Lester Young, Eddie Condon, Louis Armstrong (as the lead trumpeter on “Jodie” and “I Wonder”), the Georgie Auld big band, George Wettling, Jess Stacy, Brad Gowans, and Bill Stegmeyer. He was on V-Discs led by Jo Stafford, Condon, Mildred Bailey, Yank Lawson, Red McKenzie, and Martha Tilton in addition to several all-star dates (some of which included Louis Armstrong).
There were also radio transcription sessions headed by clarinetist Joe Marsala, and appearances on many shows in both Mildred Bailey’s Music Till Midnight radio series and Eddie Condon’s Town Hall concerts. As part of the Condon gang, it was not unusual for Butterfield to be part of a trumpet section that might include Wild Bill Davison, Max Kaminsky and/or Bobby Hackett; he always held his own.
On Sept. 20, 1944, Butterfield led a big band session for Capitol that included the original version of a new song, “Moonlight In Vermont,” with Margaret Whiting taking the vocal. He led a few other orchestra dates in the next year, usually with all-star personnel, before he formed a working big band in 1946. Best known among his sidemen were Dick Cary on alto horn (a year before he became the pianist with Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars) and altoist Bill Stegmeyer who provided many of the arrangements. While some of his recordings with the big band were swinging stomps, Butterfield had his biggest successes with his renditions of warm ballads such as “More Than You Know.” “What Is Thee To Say,” and “What’s New.” However the time was no longer right for big bands and the Billy Butterfield Orchestra folded after two years.
Billy Butterfield, who turned 32 in 1949, was not unemployed for long. He became a fulltime studio musician who still had time to play jazz at night, maintaining a consistently busy schedule for the next 20 years. His attractive tone, sight-reading abilities, and versatility within the big band, swing and trad jazz worlds allowed him to escape from having to worry about competition from new musical trends and more modern jazz players.
Among his most interesting recordings of this middle period were appearing anonymously on Louis Armstrong’s first recording of “Blueberry Hill,” accompanying Sarah Vaughan, recording with Bob Crosby’s Bobcats (1950), Tommy Dorsey’s Clambake Seven (1950), Benny Goodman on several occasions including BG’s short-lived attempt to lead a big band and bring back the swing era (1952), Lee Wiley, the Lawson/Haggart Jazz Band (1953), Eddie Condon (several album including 1954’s Jammin’ At Condon’s), Buck Clayton on one of his jam session records (1956), Peanuts Hucko, Connee Boswell (the Original Memphis Five album from 1957), Bud Freeman (1957), and Steve Allen. In addition, Butterfield appeared on some of the mood music records of Jackie Gleason and anonymously on a countless number of other orchestra sessions.
Butterfield also led occasional dates including playing a Gil Evans arrangement of “Singin’ The Blues” (1950) and heading some easy-listening albums (1954’s Dancing For Two In Love, 1956’s They Are Playing Our Song, 1957’s Thanks For A Lovely Evening, and 1958’s A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening). However his finest jazz recording as a leader during this era was his 1959 tribute to Bix Beiderbecke called Billy Plays Bix. Although the 11 songs were all from Beiderbecke’s history, Butterfield and his octet with clarinetist Tommy Gwaltney did not try to play in Bix’s style and simply jammed the tunes in their own voices.
The trumpeter was on fewer jazz recordings during the first half of the 1960s and he left the studios to settle in Florida by the middle of the decade but he returned to New York on a regular basis, recording a swing album (In A Mellow Tone) in 1966 with a group including tenor-saxophonist Flip Phillips. In 1967 he was part of an all-star band organized by Dick Gibson for a jazz party in Denver that was recorded and released as 10 Greats Of Jazz, having a reunion with Yank Lawson and Bob Haggart. A similar group performed and was recorded at the 1968 jazz party. With Gibson’s sponsorship, it soon became known as The World’s Greatest Jazz Band.
The band, whose immodest name (coined by Gibson) was not too far from the truth, originally consisted of co-leaders trumpeter Yank Lawson and bassist Bob Haggart, Butterfield, trombonists Carl Fontana (soon succeeded by Cutty Cutshall) and Lou McGarity, Bob Wilber on clarinet and soprano, tenor-saxophonist Bud Freeman, pianist Ralph Sutton, banjoist Clancy Hayes (who had to drop out due to his declining health), and drummer Morey Feld (Gus Johnson became his permanent replacement). Butterfield stayed with the group on and off through 1977, touring the world and making a series of rewarding recordings. His interplay with Lawson was particularly memorable and exciting. Their 1970 recording Live At The Roosevelt Grill (with Vic Dickenson in Cutshall’s place) was a highpoint.
The association with the World’s Greatest Jazz Band helped lead to Butterfield becoming a popular attraction on the Dixieland circuit, playing at classic jazz festivals (including the annual Manassas Jazz Festival) and jazz parties with many pickup groups for the remainder of his life. Probably his finest recording of this era was a duet album with pianist Dick Wellstood from 1975 called Rapport that featured Butterfield playing beautifully on a set of standards. In 1983 when he was 66, he made his last major recordings with Swingin’ The Forties (featuring an all-star group that included Johnny Mince, Buddy Tate, Red Norvo, and Teddy Wilson), Peanuts Hucko’s Tribute To Louis Armstrong, Barbara Lea’s Do It Again, and a set led by pianist Doctor Billy Dodd.
The trumpeter’s declining health resulted in him playing less often after 1983 although he was part of a final get-together of the Bob Crosby Orchestra for a live recording in 1985, and the 1987 recording of the Lawson-Haggart Band, Goes To New Orleans.
After a lifetime of playing swinging music with taste and melodic creativity, Billy Butterfield passed away on March 18, 1988 at the age of 71.
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
