Billy Butterfield

Swing music, Musical Artist

1917 – 1988

45

Who was Billy Butterfield?

Billy Butterfield was a band leader, jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist.

He studied cornet with Frank Simons, but later switched to studying medicine. He did not give up on music and quit medicine after finding success as a trumpeter. Early in his career he played in the band of Austin Wylie. He gained attention working with Bob Crosby, and later worked with Artie Shaw, Les Brown, and Benny Goodman.

On October 7, 1940, during his brief stay with Artie Shaw's orchestra, he performed what has been described as a "legendary trumpet solo" on the hit song "Stardust." Between 1943 and 1947, taking a break to serve in Uncle Sam's army, Billy led his own orchestra. On September 20, 1944, Capitol recorded the jazz standard "Moonlight In Vermont", which featured a vocal by Margaret Whiting and a trumpet solo by Billy. 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.

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Born
Jan 14, 1917
Middletown
Also known as
  • Bill Butterfield
  • Butterfield, Billy
Profession
Died
Mar 18, 1988

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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