Billy Butler

[Hardbopjazz]

I was listening to Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis' "Jaw's Strikes Again." I really liked the guitar playing for Billy Butler. Anyone have suggestions of other recordings with him? There's not a lot of recordings with him as a leader, but will get a few.

[Dan Gould]

Also with Jaws:

[JSngry]

Is "Honky Tonk" too obvious?

or Bill Doggett's stuff in general?

[paul secor]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Is "Honky Tonk" too obvious?

or Bill Doggett's stuff in general?

Not at all.

[mjzee]

There's the Prestige 2-fer that combined Guitar Soul! and Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.  It didn't thrill me the first time I listened to it, but I obviously need to listen to it again.

[JSngry]

That Prestige stuff is...variable. for my tastes, anyway. But Billy Butler with Bill Doggett is one of the classic examples of the right notes at the right time in the right way.

[mjzee]

Can you recommend a Doggett with Butler album?

[JSngry]

I don't know if these are ALL with Butler, MG would. But ther's enough here to make it worth your while.

https://www.amazon.com/28-Big-Ones-Bill-Doggett/dp/B00UP0MHQ0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1476831117&sr=8-3&keywords=bill+doggett

 

[JSngry]

It's stuff that "everybody" has heard, either in original form or some iteration, but not everybody will know the "who". So simple, but so sweet, so true. And as they used to like to say, if you can't dance to THIS, you ain't got no legs!

Oh yeah, Butler's also one Charles Brown's exquisite One More For The Road, as are Earl May, Harold Ousley, & Kenny Washington. Maybe not a lot of soloing on that record, but damn is it good Charles Brown, Billy Butler considerations aside, this is a "must hear" record, at least for me.

 

When you hear old folks talking about people who "know how to play a gig", this is what they mean. Not showing your shit off, but playing, as Baby Dodds put it, for the benefit of the band. "Predictable" is only boring if it's not engaging. When it IS engaging, i's like, yeah, that was there all along, only it wasn't, nor did it have to be.

So yeah, Billy Butler knew how to play a gig, just play that good rhythm and take that good solo when asked.

 

[Hardbopjazz]

I do have the sides he did with Houston Person. "Don't Be That Way" is too expensive on Amazon. 80 dollars. I'll wait for someone selling it for less.

[paul secor]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

It's stuff that "everybody" has heard, either in original form or some iteration, but not everybody will know the "who". So simple, but so sweet, so true. And as they used to like to say, if you can't dance to THIS, you ain't got no legs!

Oh yeah, Butler's also one Charles Brown's exquisite One More For The Road, as are Earl May, Harold Ousley, & Kenny Washington. Maybe not a lot of soloing on that record, but damn is it good Charles Brown, Billy Butler considerations aside, this is a "must hear" record, at least for me.

 

When you hear old folks talking about people who "know how to play a gig", this is what they mean. Not showing your shit off, but playing, as Baby Dodds put it, for the benefit of the band. "Predictable" is only boring if it's not engaging. When it IS engaging, i's like, yeah, that was there all along, only it wasn't, nor did it have to be.

So yeah, Billy Butler knew how to play a gig, just play that good rhythm and take that good solo when asked.

 

Forgot that he played on the Charles Brown - Great record. Thanks for the reminder.

[paul secor]

Not to be confused with another Billy Butler - soul singer and guitarist - brother of Jerry Butler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Butler_(singer)

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Virtually all Bill Doggett albums for King were compilations of stuff from here and now and there and then, so there could be some non Butler cuts on any, not just the CDs. The only exception to the compilations rule was his 10" LP 'All time Christmas favorites' (King 295-89) which was all recorded on 24 May 1954, before Butler joined the band.

But as Jim said, there's plenty of Butler on them all, as he was in the band for a long time.

And anyway, Doggett was a great bandleader and could pick good guitarists. You'll find them throughout his discography. Good sax players, too. Well, actually, BLOODY good sax players. All over the place.

MG

[Jim R]

Outside of "Honky Tonk", this has always been my favorite Butler solo:

The Prestige albums are indeed uneven, though.

[mjzee]

On 10/18/2016 at 4:30 PM, JSngry said:

I don't know if these are ALL with Butler, MG would. But ther's enough here to make it worth your while.

https://www.amazon.com/28-Big-Ones-Bill-Doggett/dp/B00UP0MHQ0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1476831117&sr=8-3&keywords=bill+doggett

 

Thanks for the recommendation.  I found a used copy on Amazon for 49 cents + shipping, and it's on it's way to me.

[JSngry]

Even if it all sucked (and it won't) it's worth that much!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Yeah, GOOD BUY!

MG

[mjzee]

On 10/18/2016 at 4:30 PM, JSngry said:

I don't know if these are ALL with Butler, MG would. But ther's enough here to make it worth your while.

https://www.amazon.com/28-Big-Ones-Bill-Doggett/dp/B00UP0MHQ0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1476831117&sr=8-3&keywords=bill+doggett

 

Jim, thanks for the recommendation.  Just listened to it, and it smokes!

[JSngry]

Glad you enjoyed it! I went for waaaay too long knowing Doggett by just a handful of hits. A collection like this is what opened me up to the greater reality. So, you know, pass it on, as they say.

[sgcim]

I worked with Billy Butler for two weeks playing 'Hair', ten shows a week back in the mid 70s. Back then, he was involved in Galt McDemott's various bands and shows.

I was still in my teens, and the look he gave me when I walked into the first rehearsal, would've put the fear of God in even the most confirmed atheist.

He never let up on the competitive thing, even when i had him over my parents' house for dinner. I took him down the basement, and I played him the reel-to-reel tapes I had of him playing with Stitt. That, and some booze my father gave him seemed to mellow him out a bit.

I was in my heavy Johnny Smith solo guitar phase, and he made an intriguing statement about these masterworks.

"Hell, when that stuff came out, we knew that he was taking some piano arrangements, and adapting them for guitar using a D tuning."

I read the recent Johnny Smith biography, "Moonlight in Vermont' multiple times, and it never mentioned anything about piano arrangements, but playing though some transcriptions of them, there's no way any guitarist could've come up with some of those harmonic ideas, so BB was probably right.

The band was pretty hip, with players like the great George Barrow and Charlie Fowlkes, and was led by a hip pianist/conductor. We had spontaneous funk jams for a half hour before the show started every night, and I felt like I was in heaven.  BB played some groovy blues licks, and I went into my Grant Green bag.

Then the harsh realities of the NY music business poured cold water on us, when the contractor told us no more funk jams before the show.

BB was always working with the Hindemith book 'Elementary Training For Musicians' on breaks. He told me he spent a lot of time chopping wood on his farm.

[JSngry]

Billy Butler had a farm? That's pretty cool.

Just wondering, was your Hair conductor Harold Wheeler of Dancing With The Stars fame? Seems to me I recall something about him doing that gig for a while, maybe I'm misremembering.

[sgcim]

No, it was Kenny Seymour.

Speaking of Harold Wheeler though, I'm going to be doing his Hairspray off and on through October.

 

 

[JSngry]

Madison Time!

 

[sgcim]

Yeah, that's the schist! who said ya can't dance to jazz...Swing that mother!