[Dixielandjazz] Giant of the Tuba dies

[Steve Barbone]

Don Butterfield, 83, Tuba Player Who Made His Mark in Jazz, Dies

NY TIMES - By ROJA HEYDARPOUR - December 3, 2006

Don Butterfield, a tuba player whose virtuosity helped to popularize the use
of his instrument in jazz, died on Monday in Cedar Grove, N.J. He was 83 and
lived in Clifton.

The cause was a stroke-related illness, said his stepson, Brian Nalepka.

A classically trained tubist, Mr. Butterfield first made his mark in jazz on
a Clark Terry album, ³Top and Bottom Brass,² in 1959. He went on to play
with Charles Mingus on several albums, including ³The Black Saint and the
Sinner Lady,² and with Dizzy Gillespie. He also toured with Frank Sinatra in
the late 1980s. 

In addition to his jazz work, he was a principal tubist with the Radio City
Music Hall orchestra and performed under symphonic conductors, including
Arturo Toscanini, Dmitri Mitropoulos and Leonard Bernstein.

In 1970, the classical composer Charles Wuorinen wrote his ³Chamber Concerto
for Tuba,² a piece that required a soloist with extreme dexterity, for Mr.
Butterfield.

The son of a lumberjack, Don Keithley Butterfield was born in Centralia,
Wash., and was expected to follow in his father¹s footsteps.

He began playing the tuba in high school. He went to the South Pacific
during World War II as a member of the Army Air Corps and, upon his return,
attended community college to study music. He later dropped out and
hitchhiked to New York City to pursue a career as a tubist, studying under
William Bell and attending the Juilliard School of Music. He left Juilliard
in his senior year because he was already working all around town.

In addition to his stepson, Mr. Butterfield is survived by his wife, Alice
Nalepka Butterfield; 5 children: Warren of Wyckoff, N.J., Jay of Chicago,
Laura Peters of Tom s River, N.J., Donna Cunnigham of Burbank, Calif., and
Bruce Nalepka of Randolph, N.J.; and 11 grandchildren.

---end Times Obit--- Start my notes:


David Demsey, a professor of music and coordinator of jazz studies at
William Paterson University, said Butterfield "brought back the tuba and
took the oompa out and added a melodic tone."

He also played at just about every jazz club in NYC including some where he
performned OKOM.

Among the movies he is heard on is Godfather Part II

He did a lot of radio commercials.

Many of us know about Brian Nalepka who was Don's stepson. Brian plays
string bass, tuba and bass sax and has appeared with bands fronted by Woody
Allen and Jim Cullum, as well as in the pit band for the Broadway show
Chicago. Brian currently freelances in the NYV metropolitan area.

Steve Barbone