A fabulous CD portrait of the great Billy May, marking the centenary of the man who was the epitome of the legendary post-Swing musicians who shaped the music of the 50s.

The generous Retrospective programme offers an exuberant tribute to this giant of popular music, opening with his memorable arrangement for Charlie Barnet of Cherokee, and Glenn Miller’s American Patrol. The brilliant Billy May trumpet is heard in the company of other top jazzmen on Clambake In B Flat and Lazy River. After two great Latin tracks with his Rico Mambo Orchestra there are many hand-picked, glorious examples of the Billy May Orchestra through to 1961, each one a great arrangement, often with his distinctive “slurping saxophones” to the fore.

Billy May was famous for accompanying great song stylists (such as Frank Sinatra, of course), and examples are also included here with Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Kay Starr, Nellie Lutcher and Hoagy Carmichael, and others, and the whole programme closes with Ella Fitzgerald’s poignant Over The Rainbow.

Track listing:

CD1 (1939-1952)
1. Cherokee
2. Wings Over Manhattan
3. Long Tall Mama
4. American Patrol
5. Clambake In B Flat
6. Lazy River
7. Memphis In June
8. Fat Man Mambo
9. Minor Mambo
10. I Get Ideas
11. All Of Me
12. My Silent Love
13. Lulu’s Back In Town
14. Mean To Me
15. Fat Man Boogie
16. Lean Baby
17. I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan
18. Walkin’ My Baby Back Home
19. Honky-Tonk Hardwood Floor
20. Charmaine
21. Unforgettable
22. When Your Lover Has Gone
23. Mayhem
24. You’re Driving Me Crazy
25. Perfidia

CD2 (1952-1961)
1. Gin And Tonic
2. Easy Street
3. Cocktails For Two
4. Top Hat, White Tie And Tails
5. Little Brown Jug
6. Let’s Put Out The Lights And Go To Sleep
7. Rose Marie
8. Thou Swell
9. Blues In The Night
10. South Rampart Street Parade
11. The Man With The Golden Arm – Theme
12. I’ll Never Say “Never Again” Again
13. Say It Isn’t So
14. These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You
15. Moonlight In Vermont
16. It’s Nice To Go Trav’ling
17. Burnished Brass
18. Cheek To Cheek
19. Brassmen’s Holiday
20. Autumn Leaves
21. Ping Pong
22. Solving The Riddle
23. I Can’t Get Started
24. All Of You
25. The Preacher
26. Two Of A Kind – Indiana
27. Over The Rainbow