Sam Butera Still Sets the Crowd Swinging

Sam Butera doesn’t make lazy lounge music. The tenor saxophonist earned his greatest fame back in the ‘50s and ‘60s as bandleader for Louis Prima, and in a 90-minute performance at the Derby on Saturday, Butera and his band showed that his music retains the essence of excitement and fun.

It was a set he has undoubtedly performed hundreds of times, and while there were few musical surprises, the mood was loose, energetic and spontaneous. The sound was also frequently hotblooded, a characteristic that made Butera’s work with Prima natural source material for the rock-leaning swing revival of the ‘90s. That scene has helped keep Butera, now in his mid-70s, a presence on the hip club circuit.

“That’s happy music, folks!” Butera declared Saturday. He left ample time for soloing by his band members, but there was no doubt who was in command when he blew into his sax as couples twirled on the dance floor in front of him. Butera and his five sidemen bounced through “Jump, Jive and Wail,” which was a hit for Brian Setzer four decades after it was first recorded by Butera and Prima.

If a jazzy take on Willie Nelson’s hit “On the Road Again” seemed misguided, Butera was quickly redeemed as a player and bandleader by a smooth, passionate “Misty.”

As a singer, Butera lacked the power and raw melody of the young Prima, but he was a warm and winking frontman who spoke fondly of his late partner. His frequent use of risque wisecracks undoubtedly owed much to being Prima’s sideman for 23 years. As he put it at the Derby, “I was with Prima longer than any of his wives put together!”