American Songbook Blogs

November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004 Billy May was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for The Green Hornet (1966), The Mod Squad (1968), Batman (with Batgirl theme, 1967),^[1] and Naked City (1960). May wrote arrangements for many top singers, including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Anita O’Day, Peggy Lee,  Vic Damon, Bobby Darin,  Johnny Mercer, Jack Jones, Rosemary Clooney and many others. As a trumpet player in the 1940s Big Band era, May toured and recorded with Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, with Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra and later his own band. Billy’s tremendous sizzling brass oriented arrangements could propel an orchestra and yet he could score the strings as tenderly as the best of the best. Billy made an indelible mark on the American songbook! And his music still inspires us today!