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Sam Butera

Sam Butera was a saxophone player, best noted for his collaborations with Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Butera is frequently regarded as a crossover artist who performed with equal ease in both R & B and the post-big band pop style of jazz that permeated the early Vegas nightclub scene. Butera was born and raised in New Orleans, where his father, Joe, ran a butcher shop and played guitar in his spare time. He heard the saxophone for the first time at a wedding when he was seven years old, and, with his father's encouragement, he began to play. Butera's professional career blossomed early, beginning with a stint in big band drummer 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, 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, and it was this connection that lead 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 1956, Prima asked Butera before a live audience what the name of his band was. Butera responded extemporaneously, "The Witnesses," and the name stuck. Butera remained the bandleader of The Witnesses for the better part of the next twenty years. During that time, he performed with Louis Prima and/or Keely Smith on such Prima-associated classics as "Old Black Magic," "Dig That Crazy Chick," "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody," "(Come on a) My House," and "I Want to Be Like You" (from Disney's The Jungle Book). He is noted for his raucous playing style, his off-color humor, and the innuendo in his lyrics. The arrangements he made with Prima have been covered by David Lee Roth, Los Lobos, Brian Setzer, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

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Sam Butera 1950s-'60s Tenor Saxophonist with Louis Prima Dies

Sam Butera 1950s-'60s Tenor Saxophonist with Louis Prima Dies

Source: Michael Ricci

Tenor sax player Sam Butera joined up with Louis Prima -- a fellow New Orleans native of Italian heritage -- in 1954, and for almost two decades they recorded hit albums for Capitol Records, were nightclub fixtures from Las Vegas to New York and appeared in movies and on television.

He was best known for his musical partnership with entertainer Louis Prima. They were a nightclub fixture and appeared on TV and in movies.

Sam Butera, a hard-swinging tenor saxophonist ...

191

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Lounge Legend Butera, 81, Dies

Lounge Legend Butera, 81, Dies

Source: All About Jazz

Swing saxophonist played with Prima Sam Butera, whose saxophone kept the Strip swingin' for 50 years, died Wednesday in Las Vegas. He was 81. The Louis Prima band, with Butera as his saxophone sidekick, gave Las Vegas a distinctive sound and a freewheeling, all-night image when they made the Sahara lounge “The Wildest Show in Town" in late 1954. Prima died in 1978, but Butera kept the legacy going until 2004, when he hung up the saxophone and declared himself ...

289

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Sam Butera, Former Louis Prima Saxophonist, Dies in Las Vegas at Age 81

Sam Butera, Former Louis Prima Saxophonist, Dies in Las Vegas at Age 81

Source: All About Jazz

Sam Butera, the hard-driving, hard-swinging New Orleans saxophonist who was Louis Prima's longtime musical partner, died Wednesday in Las Vegas following a long illness. He was 81. Mr. Butera joined Prima's band in 1954. With singer Keely Smith, they built one of the most popular acts in the golden age of Las Vegas. Mr. Butera cooked up the arrangements that gave the likes of “Just a Gigolo," “I Ain't Got Nobody" and “Jump Jive An' Wail" maximum impact. “Louis's ace-in-the-hole ...

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