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Lounge Legend Butera, 81, Dies

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Sam Butera
Swing saxophonist played with Prima



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.



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.

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