Billy May, 87, the big-band trumpeter who became one of the greatest arrangers of the 1940s and 1950s with his instantly recognizable style, died Jan. 22 at his home in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., after a heart attack. He had diabetes.
With those artists and others, he brought a crisp and sophisticated approach to songs by Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen and Jerome Kern. He was considered an expert at mambos and hard swing, but his signature sound was the so-called slurping saxophones that roared like a bluesy wail.
Mr. May developed his musical trademark after hearing two saxophones perform the scooping sound in a small band. He broadened it to five or more saxes.
Grammy-winning arranger Bill Holman said Mr. May arranged to the artist's musical tastes without sacrificing his own sensibilities. "It was always Billy May," Holman said. "He did not change a lot from artist to artist. He worked for a lot of people because it was very human music."
Mr. May's longest association was with Sinatra. They worked together on such hallmark albums as "Come Fly With Me" (1957), "Come Dance With Me!" (1958), "Come Swing With Me!" (1961) and "Trilogy" (1979).
Sinatra found Mr. May's work ethic bracing, once telling an interviewer that "recording with Billy May is like having a bucket of cold water thrown in your face."
Comparing Mr. May with the arranger-conductors Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, Sinatra added: "Riddle will come to a session with all the arrangements carefully and neatly worked out beforehand. With Billy you sometimes don't get copies of the next number until you've finished the one before. Billy and Nelson both work better under pressure."
Appraising their sounds, Sinatra said, "Billy May is always driving while Nelson has more depth, and with Gordon Jenkins, it's just plain beautiful and simple."
Mr. May won a Grammy in 1958 for Best Performance by an Orchestra for his album "Billy May's Big Fat Brass." He won again in 1959 for Best Arranging with "Come Dance With Me!"
Edward William May Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, the son of a roofer. His musical career stemmed from a malady: A doctor advised him to fight his asthma by playing the tuba. In his school band, he began to appreciate the other instruments and taught himself trumpet and trombone as well as arranging.
Hearing that bandleader Charlie Barnet was playing on a Pittsburgh radio station, Mr. May rushed to the studio to show Barnet a few musical arrangements. The bandleader liked the writing and asked for more but never paid for them. Months later, Mr. May contacted Barnet in New York, asked for an explanation and got a job playing trumpet in the band.
He also did more arrangements for Barnet, including a growling version of "Cherokee" that was one of his biggest hits. His other contributions included "Redskin Rhumba."
Bandleader Glenn Miller noticed Barnet's new sound and hired the young arranger to play and write. Among Mr. May's best-known arrangements were "Take the 'A' Train," "Serenade in Blue" and "American Patrol."
After Miller broke up that band during World War II, Mr. May settled in Hollywood and found work with Les Brown, Woody Herman, Alvino Rey and Ozzie Nelson.
He was a studio arranger at NBC and then Capitol Records, where he had his own orchestra in the early 1950s. His theme song was "Lean Baby," which he wrote as a directive instead of a description. It featured his slurping saxes.
Tiring of bandleading, he turned to freelance arranging. He partnered with satirist Stan Freberg for the comedy albums "History of the United States, Vol. 1: The Early Years" (1961) and "History of the United States, Vol. 2" (1996).
He worked in television, composing with Milton Raskin the theme song for the ABC drama "Naked City," which ran from 1958 to 1963.
Much later, he was musical director of a prestigious series of recordings for Time/Life Records, re-creating swing-era favorites. That led to writing arrangements for the Boston Pops orchestra.
When not working on music, Mr. May collected model trains, and he often used his time on the road to add to his train sets.
His marriages to Arletta May and Joan May ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 30 years, Doris May of San Juan Capistrano; two daughters from his first marriage; two stepdaughters; and a brother.
