J.A.W. Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 According to Keith Spera, music writer of The Times-Picayune, former Louis Prima saxophonist Sam Butera died in Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 3 at age 81. I don't have further details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 (edited) Yeah, it's true. My father called me this morning all bummed out after hearing it on the radio. Jazz saxophonist Sam Butera dies RIP, Sam. Edited June 4, 2009 by catesta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 RIP. My favorite of his with Prima is Next Time. I'll play it today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 RIP. My favorite of his with Prima is Next Time. I'll play it today. ditto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 I came to a late appreciation of Butera, but once I heard it, I heard it. It is what it is, and equally important, it ain't what it ain't. My favorite solo of his w/Prima is "When You're Smiling". Incredibly sophisticated musical use of a pretty simple vocabulary. The guy was light years ahead of his cultural "peers" in doing what it was that he did, probably not least because of his deeply imbued New Orleans roots. His solos frequently & abruptly shift between New Orleans clarinet vocabulary & New Orleans R&B vocabulary yet remain organically New Orleans, period. Same thing about that whole Prima/Smith organization, at it's best, anyway. Sure he was an "entertainer". In the end, aren't we all? Sam Butera could play. Sam Butera had soul. And most of all, Sam Butera played with a love of and for life - his and all with whom he shared it. Hard to ask for more than that. You shouldn'ta gone to the airport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 I heard (and got) Butera before I heard of Jacquet, Phillips and the rest of JATP tenors. I also saw him in person first. This was in the '50s and my youth. Sorry he's gone but happy he was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Saw him live at a festival in the U.K. in the late 90s, and what a show! I am glad I queued up afterwards to get his signature on the covers of a couple of 50s Capitol albums I had brought along. R.I.P. As for his roots and what JSngry said about his playing, check out a sample of this on the Little Jimmy Scott CD (Specialty SPCD 2170-2) which has Sam Butera as a special guest with the Paul Gayten band on two lengthy tracks recorded at a live jam session in 1951. He sure cooks up some heat on "Dueling Tenors". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Here's his Washington Post obit: (If there was ever someone whose notice should be called an obit rather than an obituary, it was Sam Butera!) http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,3281584.story ...Prima was the most influential figure in his life. "The whole thing is entertainment, man," Butera told a reporter. "I learned that from him. You can get up on stage, do all the singing and talking you want, but if you don't know how to laugh and get happy with the people, it's nothing." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 SHOW Business! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZB3jynQHgw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flat5 Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 Yes...the Great Sam Butera. A hard worker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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