Biography

Studied playing the cornet while attending school in Wyoming, then switched to violin, bass and trombone before settling on trumpet as his instrument of choice. For a while, it seemed that Billy would embark on a medical career at Transylvania College in Kentucky, but he became so popular performing with the college dance orchestras that, in January 1937, he landed a job with Austin Wylie in Pittsburgh. From there, he went on to a trumpet chair with Bob Crosby and the Bobcats and eventually played for several of the great swing bands: Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (1940-41), Benny Goodman (1941-42) and Les Brown (briefly, until called up for wartime service).

Billy's trumpet playing was noted for powerful emotional phrasing and a rounded, 'fat' sound which ideally suited ballads such as the Bob Haggart hit "What's New" or his solo of Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" with the Artie Shaw band. In the motion picture Second Chorus (1940), he can be heard on Shaw's "Concerto for Clarinet". In early 1946, Billy organised his own outfit in conjunction with ex-Crosby band member William Stegmeyer, who, in addition to playing alto sax and clarinet, also furnished many of the arrangements. While the band made several good recordings, it failed as a financial enterprise and Billy returned to doing studio work in New York. He accompanied Louis Armstrong's vocal of "Blueberry Hill" in 1949. During the 1950's and 60's, he led several small Dixieland-oriented combos and appeared at the famous 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. In 1968, he joined the World's Greatest Jazz Band , along other luminaries, such as ex-Bobcats Bob Haggart and Yank Lawson.