Biography
14 January 1917, Middleton, Ohio, USA, d. 18 March 1988, North Palm Beach, Florida, USA. As a child Butterfield was taught by cornetist Frank Simons, but as a teenager he began to study medicine. He continued playing music to such good effect that he was soon working regularly with the bands of Austin Wylie and Andy Anderson and eventually quit his medical studies. Although adept on several instruments he concentrated on trumpet, later adding flügelhorn, and in 1937 was hired by the Bob Crosby band. Butterfield’s gorgeous, fat-toned sound was particularly suited to ballads and his recording of Bob Haggart’s ‘What’s New?’, originally entitled ‘I’m Free’, was a hit. In 1940 he joined Artie Shaw, then worked with Benny Goodman and Les Brown, but soon entered the more reliable area of studio work. After the war Butterfield indulged himself with every sideman’s dream and formed his own big band, in...
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