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Jun. 04, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Lounge legend Butera, 81, dies

Swing saxophonist played with Prima

By MIKE WEATHERFORD
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Saxophonist Sam Butera, seen at his Las Vegas home in 2004, died Wednesday of pneumonia complications.
Photo by Clint Karlsen/Las Vegas Review-Journal

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.

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    • Prima died in 1978, but Butera kept the legacy going until 2004, when he hung up the saxophone and declared himself retired, citing complications from a heart condition and disappointment in a Las Vegas that had moved beyond its lounge legacy.

    A Las Vegan since 1961, Butera died about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday of complications of pneumonia at Sunrise Hospital, a family member said.

    It's impossible to know how many people shook hands with Butera as he capped each set with his signature sign-off song, "When the Saints Go Marchin' In," leading his band on a snake dance around the cocktail tables with a beaming smile.

    Butera was born in New Orleans on Aug. 17, 1927. He started learning the saxophone at age 7. In 1946, when he was 19, Butera won a local contest sponsored by Look magazine that sent him to play with a band made up of other regional winners at New York's Carnegie Hall. From that band, he was singled out for "All American" honors for his tenor sax skills.

    "I used to listen to everybody. That's how I learned how to play jazz, listening to those great musicians," he recalled in 2004.

    Butera's eclectic sax sound found a perfect fit with Prima, a fellow New Orleans bandleader who had fallen on hard times, downsized his big band and begged an old friend, Bill Miller, for a two-week gig at the Sahara.

    The band started to catch on in the Casbar lounge, but Prima knew something was missing.

    "He wanted me to join him on December 25. I said, 'I got kids, man,'" Butera recalled. So he came the next day.

    Butera started writing arrangements for the band, The Witnesses, in a shuffle beat that pushed the 4/4 rhythm onto the snare drum and made the song feel twice as fast as it really was.

    He recorded both with Prima's band and on his own. His solo career included the 1960 Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds movie "The Rat Race" and its companion album and a 1964 album with Sammy Davis Jr., "Sam Meets Sam: When the Feeling Hits You!"

    He recorded "Stargazer" with Frank Sinatra in 1976 and worked as Sinatra's opening act at Caesars Palace and on tour that year.

    The Disney version of "The Jungle Book" featured Prima and Butera as animated primates. David Lee Roth revived the Prima version of "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" for a hit single in 1985.

    As the local lounge scene faded, Butera received a hero's welcome in Europe during his final performing years, playing to young crowds of early rock and swing fans. His last Las Vegas show was opening the Green Room lounge at Santa Fe Station in September 2002.

    Butera and his wife, Vera, lived in the same house near the old Bishop Gorman High School they built in 1961. He is survived by his wife and four children: Cheryl, Diane, Sam Jr. and Nick.

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    woody wrote on June 05, 2009 04:08 PM: Big sound Sam - definitely a huge influence (with many others) on the wordless, evocative, emotional sound of Sax vocabulary to me. Heard 'em in mid-California in '04, just as fun as the records all made it seem. Rest well, kid.
    -wp


    Two Cents wrote on June 04, 2009 01:33 PM: Rest in Peace Sam, we'll miss you. God bless your family. You provided much happiness through the years. I saw you at the Tropicana many years ago and you filled up the showroom, standing room only! Heaven is waiting for you.


    ray wrote on June 04, 2009 01:25 PM: first louie,now sam.we'll all miss you...


    Michael Bacich wrote on June 04, 2009 12:07 PM: Sam Butera was the greatest! His ability to blend the blues with hard bop and drive it with a primal rock wail was matched by no one. His tone! A mile wide, perfectly in tune, and when he wanted, loud as HELL, as if to say to anyone nearby, "get outta my way!" -- like a horn from a Mack truck, but a swingin' Mack truck. He was the ultimate bad-ass sax player, and the current generation of reedmen could do no better than to dig deep into his catalog and steal his every last lick. It indeed is a sad day for us, but look at the bright side: now Michael Brecker, Bird, Coleman Hawkins, and Lester Young have a new buddy to hang with!


    ex gambler wrote on June 04, 2009 11:02 AM: disappointment in a Las Vegas that had moved beyond its lounge legacy.


    Ain't that the truth. The greedy corporate casinos are not interested in oferring a venue that compromises the casinos intent on separating money from the players with great speed.


    Sandra wrote on June 04, 2009 09:50 AM: Sam, you were great. Vegas came alive because of you and Louie. What a great musician and composer. You deserve your star Sam.


    Tony Palasota wrote on June 04, 2009 09:50 AM: I just want to say that Sam will be missed. As a kid growing up between Houston and Las Vegas, My mom and pops would take me to see Sam Play. His music awoke something in side of me,and influenced me enough to start playing as many instuments as I could get my hands on. I would have to say that Sam Butera has to go down as the Greatest Sax player ever.To this day I have never heard anyone play with as much fire and intensity! Well thank you Sam for all the memories,and because of you my mother, father,sister and I will always remember our most sacred moments as a family sitting their together watching SAM BUTERA and the Wildess!! Love you SAM,and MAY GOD REST YOUR SOUL!


    The Greek wrote on June 04, 2009 09:48 AM: Dead? That sob owes me money!


    Anthony Palasota wrote on June 04, 2009 09:10 AM: I am sad to learn of Sam Butera's passing away. No wonder the sky isn't so blue today, but I bet Heaven is a bit brighter and swingin' to his music.

    Anthony C. Palasota


    Marcy Fridmann wrote on June 04, 2009 08:47 AM: A true class act and what a performer!! Never too busy to sign a CD and stay awhile to chat. We'll miss you Sam. Thanks for giving us happy music!!!


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