Billy Butterfield was born January 14, 1917 in Middleton (Ohio) and died March 18, 1988. He was a musician, cornetist, jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, and band leader. After studying cornet with Frank Simons he switched to medicine. After his success as a trumpeter, he didn’t give up music. He was a member of the band Austin Wylie early in his career. He was first noticed by Bob Crosby (1937-1940), then he worked with Les Brown and Benny Goodman. He performed a “legendary solo trumpet on Stardust” in his brief time with Artie Shaw’s orchestra on October 7, 1940. After taking a break from Uncle Sam’s army in 1943, Billy started his own orchestra. Capitol recorded “Moonlight In Vermont” jazz standard on September 20, 1944. It featured Margaret Whiting’s vocal and a Billy solo trumpet. According to the liner notes of Capitol from the Vaults Volume 2, “Vine Street Divas”, the album Capitol from the Vaults was recorded by Billy Butterfield.
