Sam Butera (August 17, 1927 – June 3, 2009) was an American

tenor saxophonist The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while t ...

and singer-songwriter best noted for his collaborations with

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he for ...

and

Keely Smith Dorothy Jacqueline Keely (March 9, 1928The reference work ''The Encyclopedia of Native Music: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet'' gives Smith's date of birth as March 9, 1932. – December 16, 2017), profession ...

. Butera is frequently regarded as a crossover artist who performed with equal ease in both R&B and the post-

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

pop style of jazz that permeated the early Vegas

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

scene.

Biography

Butera was born and raised in an

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan area ...

family in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Ray McKinley's orchestra directly after high school. Butera was named one of America's top upcoming jazzmen by ''Look'' magazine when he was only eighteen years old, and, by his early twenties, he had landed positions in the orchestras of

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

, Joe Reichman, and Paul Gayten. As the big band era wound down and heavy touring became less common among jazz musicians, Butera re-settled in New Orleans, where he played regularly at the 500 Club for four years. The 500 Club was owned by Louis Prima's brother,

Leon Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again ...

, and it was this connection that led him to his much-heralded Vegas-based collaborations with Prima and Smith. Prima transitioned from big band to Vegas somewhat hastily, having signed a contract with the Sahara without having first assembled a back-up band. From his Vegas hotel room, Prima phoned Butera in New Orleans and had him assemble a band posthaste. Butera and the band drove from New Orleans to Las Vegas in such a hurry that they had not taken time to give their act a name. On opening night in 1954, Prima asked Butera before a live audience what the name of his band was. Butera responded spontaneously, "The Witnesses", and the name stuck. Butera remained the bandleader of The Witnesses for more than twenty years. During that time, he performed with Louis Prima and/or Keely Smith on such Prima-associated songs as " That Old Black Magic", " Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody," " Come on-a My House," and " I Wan'na Be Like You" (from Disney's ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...

''). Richard and Robert Sherman, composers of the songs for the Disney animated film, agreed to cast Prima, Butera and their band after executives from the Walt Disney Company urged them to travel to Las Vegas to witness the band’s live act in person. Butera is noted for his raucous playing style, his

off-color humor Off-color humor (also known as vulgar humor, crude humor, or shock humor) is humor that deals with topics that may be considered to be in poor taste or vulgar. Many comedic genres (including jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult ...

, and the innuendo in his lyrics. The arrangement he made with Prima of "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" has been covered by David Lee Roth,

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cum ...

Brian Setzer Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with ...

, The Village People, and

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a contemporary swing revival band from Southern California. Their notable singles include "Go Daddy-O", "You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)", and "Mr. Pinstripe Suit". The band played at the Super Bowl XXXIII ha ...

. In addition to his accomplishments as a saxophonist and composer, Butera is widely regarded as the inspiration for the vocal style of fellow New Orleans-born jazz singer Harry Connick, Jr.

Later career

Butera had a featured role in the Cinemax TV special ''Viva Shaf Vegas'' (1986), which starred

Paul Shaffer Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both ''Late Ni ...

. In the show, written by Shaffer,

Tom Leopold Tom Leopold (born ) is an American comedy writer, performer, and novelist. He has written episodes of ''Seinfeld'' and ''Cheers'', along with several books. Leopold has often been associated with Chevy Chase, Harry Shearer, and Paul Shaffer d ...

and

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, radio host, director and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a membe ...

, Butera is asked to help Shaffer with his "spiritual crisis". To analyze Shaffer's problem, Butera asks a series of questions, the last of which is, "Are you regular?" Sam Butera was featured in an episode of ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the origi ...

'' (1997). Butera's advice for the host, Space Ghost's evil twin brother Chad Ghostal, on getting "chicks, like a fox nsert purr is, "Well, first a little music, a little jive talk. You gotta call her baby, sweetheart, darling, you know all the names that go along with love." When he sang part of "Just a Gigolo," Chad, Zorak, and Moltar found it familiar and Butera began to tell how David Lee Roth stole the song from him. "I wrote that arrangement thirty four years ago, the one that David Lee Roth stole from me. He came in one night to see me, you know, and after the show he walked up to me and said 'Hey Sam!', and I said 'who are you', he said 'I'm David Lee Roth'". "'You know what' I tell him? I said 'give me my money' and he turned right away and walked out." Royalties are paid to songwriters, not arrangers, and the 2 songs making up the arrangement were old standards by the 1950's. Butera's anger towards Roth was equaled by his anger towards journalists, often calling columnists to complain about reviews he didn't like. Sam Butera appeared in a Joe Piscopo HBO special. Butera played a part in the movie '' The Rat Race'' (1960), starring

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...

and

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

. He played a scam artist along with Joe Bushkin who fleeced Curtis out of his instruments. The music can be heard on the LP and the CD released by Dot as a soundtrack of ''The Rat Race''. Butera died of pneumonia in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 81.

Selected discography

Early 45rpm releases: * "Chicken Scratch" // "Easy Rocking" (

RCA Victor Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

47-5469, Oct 1953) * "Wailin' Walk" // "Shine The Buckle" (RCA Victor 47-5545, Nov 1953) * "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" // "(These Are) The Things I Love" ( Groove Records 4G-0005, Mar 1954) * "The Tout" // "Sam's Clam" (Groove 4G-0018, Jun 1954) * "Sam's Reverie" // "Who's Got The Key" (Groove 4G-0033, Aug 1954) * "Goin' In" // "Comin' Out" (

Cadence Records Cadence Records was an American record company based in New York City whose labels had a picture of a metronome. It was founded by Archie Bleyer, who had been the musical director and orchestra leader for Arthur Godfrey in 1952. Cadence also laun ...

1281, Dec 1955) * "Equator" // "I Kiss Your Hand, Madame" (Prep Records F-102, Apr 1957) * "Ten Little Women" // "Love Charm" (Prep F-105, May 1957) * "It's Better Than Nothing At All" // "Good Gracious Baby" (Prep F-134, Feb 1958) Solo albums with The Witnesses: * ''The Big Horn'' (

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

, 1958) * ''The Wildest Clan'' (

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...

, 1960) * ''Plays Music from "The Rat Race"'' (Dot, 1960) * ''Apache!'' (Dot, 1961) * ''The Big Sax and the Big Voice of Sam Butera'' (Capitol, 1961) * ''When The Feeling Hits You!'' with Sammy Davis Jr. (

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

, 1964) * ''Thinking Man's Sax'' (Prima One Records, 1964) * ''He's Number One!'' (Prima One, 1974) re-released on Butera's label, Poor Boy Records PB 1000, in 1978. * Ultra-Lounge – Wild, Cool & Swingin' – Artist Series Volume 6: ''Sam Butera and The Witnesses'' (Capitol/EMI, 1999) compilation of Capitol material. With The Wildest: -LPs *''By Request'' (Poor Boy Records PB 1001, 1979) *''Play It Again, Sam!'' (Poor Boy PB 1002, 1980) *''Atlantic City Special'' (Poor Boy PB 1003, 1981) *''Love Is In The Air'' (Poor Boy PB 1004, 1982) *''Body and Sax... with a Little Soul'' (Poor Boy PB 001, 1984) *''Sam Butera and The Wildest: Live!'' (Poor Boy PB 1005, 1987) *''A Tribute to Louis Prima, Part 1'' (Poor Boy PB 1006, 1987) *''A Tribute to Louis Prima, Part 2'' (Poor Boy PB 1007, 1987) -CDs *''Sheer Energy'' (

Jasmine Records Jasmine Records is a London-based record label that specialises in jazz reissues. History The label was founded in 1982 as part of Hasmick Promotions, issuing LPs and cassettes of jazz and popular vocalists. Jasmine diversified into country musi ...

313, 1992) reissue of PB 1005 *''By Request'' (Jasmine 314, 1992) reissue *''A Tribute to Louis Prima, Volume 1'' (Jasmine 319, 1994) reissue *''A Tribute to Louis Prima, Volume 2'' (Jasmine 320, 1994) reissue *''The Whole World Loves Italians'' (USA Music Group 970, 1996) *''On Stage'' (Get Hip Archive Series 5008, 1996 999 *''Still Cookin' '' (Poor Boy 9109, 2000)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Butera, Sam 1927 births 2009 deaths American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Neurological disease deaths in Nevada Groove Records artists Jazz musicians from New Orleans American people of Italian descent RCA Victor artists Cadence Records artists 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians

Biography

Later career

Selected discography

See also

References

External links