Billy Butterfield Plays “Don’t Blame Meâ€
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Artist:
Composer Jimmy McHugh (pictured above) wrote songs that were highly popular in the 1930's and 1940's through to the early 1960's. Many of these he co-wrote with lyricist Dorothy Fields. Of this large catalogue of song favorites is surely "Don't Blame Me" written in 1933 for the stage musical "Sugar Babies." As with "Sophisticated Ladies," Bill Stegmeyer has arranged "Don't Blame Me" for a full registered sax section. Stegmeyer is featured as the leading voice on his alto sax. Billy Butterfield plays enchantingly on his trumpet accompanied by Mickey Crane. But it's the sax section plays all throughout, creating a warmly resonant atmosphere.
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Comments (2)
Wonderful. I have a strong weakness for reed sections like this, and a frequent antipathy towards blaring brass sections, which this track fortunately doesn't have. You have an ear for underrated tuneage.
When i was a seventh-grader (1958-9), my parents, hoping to widen my musical tastes beyond trashy rock and roll, bought me an LP issued by the bottom-feeding Halo label that had a compilation of various jazz tracks by various artists, one of which was Sarah Vaughan singing her early bop version of "Don't Blame Me" in such a straightfowardly melodic manner that I remembered it vividly long after the LP had gotten lost in the shuffle. I'd like to think that she would share our admiration for Billy Butterfield's execution of it.
Spike,
I think you're right about Billy Butterfield's recording of this song. The full sax section was part and parcel of another bandleader of the 1930's and 1940's Charlie Barnet. Barnet loved and admired Duke Ellington so much that had quite a few arrangements spotlighting the sax section. Another guy who did the same thing was Shep Fields who had an all reed orchestra with Ken Curtis (Festus of Gunsmoke fame) as the band singer. Sid Caesar was one of the saxes! Going further back, Paul Whiteman had the same thing going with the late Al Galadoro leading a sax section. So there's always been a sax section in many big bands which I must confess I love hearing as well.
Time for me to nurse my cold, so off to dreamland and hearing a sax section in my dreams!
Yours truly,
musikfriend