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Louis Prima

 
Artist: Louis Prima
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  • Born: December 07, 1911, New Orleans, LA
  • Died: August 24, 1978, New Orleans, LA
  • Active: '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s
  • Genres: Jazz
  • Instrument: Vocals, Trumpet
  • Representative Albums: "Jump, Jive an' Wail: The Essential," "Capitol Collectors Series," "The Wildest!"
  • Representative Songs: "That Old Black Magic," "Jump, Jive, An' Wail," "Sing, Sing, Sing"

Biography

A tireless showman and an underrated musical talent, Louis Prima swung his way to icon status thanks to an irresistible, infectious sound whose appeal translated across generations. Nominally a swing artist, Prima's distinctive sound also encompassed New Orleans-style jazz, boogie-woogie, jump blues, R&B, early rock & roll, and even the occasional Italian tarantella. Regardless of what form his music took, it swung hard and fast, with a rolling, up-tempo shuffle beat that helped some of his earlier material cross over to R&B audiences (his songs were also covered by jump blues artists from time to time). His greatest period of popularity coincided with his marriage to singer Keely Smith, whose coolly sophisticated vocals and detached stage manner made a perfect counterpoint to Prima's boisterous presence: mugging, clowning, and cavorting around the stage with the boundless enthusiasm of a hyperactive boy. Prima's band during this time was anchored by tenor saxophonist Sam Butera, whose grounding in jump blues and New Orleans R&B was a perfect match. Perhaps because Prima refused to take his music too seriously, sober-minded jazz critics often dismissed him as a mere entertainer, overlooking his very real talent as a jazzman. He was a capable, gravelly-voiced singer modeled on Louis Armstrong, boasting a surprising range, and was also a fine trumpet player, again in the irrepressible mold of Armstrong; what was more, he wrote Benny Goodman's perennial swing smash "Sing, Sing, Sing." Prima's impact on popular culture was also significant; his pronounced ethnicity made it safe for other Italian-American singers to acknowledge their roots, and he was the first high-profile musical act to take up regular residence in the lounges and casinos of Las Vegas, helping to start the city's transformation into a broader-based entertainment capital. His musical legacy proved long-lasting, as covers of his classics became modern-day hits for David Lee Roth and Brian Setzer; additionally, the '90s swing revival, which sought to re-emphasize the danceability and sense of fun that had largely disappeared from jazz, brought Prima's music back into the limelight (as well as the good graces of critics). Louis Prima was born December 7, 1911 in New Orleans, LA, to an Italian family who'd emigrated to the U.S. by way of Argentina. He took violin lessons as a youth, but switched to trumpet at age 15 when his older brother went out on tour with a band and left a spare instrument behind. By 17, Prima was playing professionally at a New Orleans theater, influenced chiefly by Louis Armstrong and King Oliver. This was a problem, since the theater was not a jazz venue, and Prima was fired. In the early '30s, he caught on with cornetist Red Nichols for a time, and moved to New York in 1934 at the urging of star bandleader Guy Lombardo, who had been impressed with Prima's trumpet playing. Initially struggling to find work, Prima formed a Dixieland-style backing group called the New Orleans Gang and landed a regular gig at a 52nd Street club known as the Famous Door. The band was a hit, adopting "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" as their signature song, and recorded numerous sides for a succession of labels up through 1939; some of the better-known members included -- at various points -- clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, pianist Claude Thornhill, guitarist George Van Eps, reedman Eddie Miller, and trombonist George Brunies. Prima also traveled to Los Angeles periodically, and made cameo appearances in several Hollywood musicals, starting with the Bing Crosby Western Rhythm on the Range in 1936. Meanwhile, Prima was composing original material, and in 1937 he completed a song called "Sing, Sing, Sing." Benny Goodman recorded an instrumental version and had a huge smash with it the following year, spotlighting it in his legendary Carnegie Hall appearance; to this day it remains one of the most readily identifiable melodies of the swing era. Prima broke up the New Orleans Gang in 1939 to form his own big band, which he dubbed the Gleeby Rhythm Orchestra. Following World War II, the band started to take off, landing hits with novelty numbers that often drew upon Prima's Italian background and accent. The first was 1944's "Angelina," a major success that paved the way for titles like "Felicia No Capicia," "Bacciagaloop (Makes Love on the Stoop)," "Please No Squeeza Da Banana," and "Josephina, Please No Leana on the Bell." Prima also made the Hit Parade Top Ten with songs like "Robin Hood" (1944; covered the next year by Les Brown for a bigger hit), "Bell Bottom Trousers" (sung by Lily Ann Carol in 1945), and "Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)" (1947). He also wrote Jo Stafford's 1947 hit "A Sunday Kind of Love." In 1948, Prima hired a new female vocalist for his band, a 16-year-old Norfolk, Virginia native named Dorothy Keely, who was renamed Keely Smith. Prima parlayed her initial shyness into a stage routine where he attempted to break down her icily reserved façade. The contrast in their styles made for immediate chemistry, and Smith's boyish haircut only added to the duo's distinctive stage presence. Prima broke up the big band in 1949, and continued to work with Smith as a more streamlined nightclub act. They scored a hit in 1950 with their co-composition "Oh Babe!" and toured the country over the next few years. In the summer of 1953, Smith became Prima's fourth wife. By late 1954, Prima was finding bookings harder and harder to come by. He talked a friend into booking him for an extended stay at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, and while passing through New Orleans, he recruited locally popular tenor saxophonist Sam Butera as a possible collaborator if things went well. They did, and Prima called Butera out to Vegas, asking him to bring a few more musicians; the new group debuted at the Sahara on the day after Christmas, and Butera dubbed them the Witnesses during Prima's first on-stage introduction. Their act quickly became a sensation around Las Vegas, and their engagement turned into a residency, billed as "The Wildest Show in Vegas," which ran up to five times a night. Prima and Smith's comic banter was riddled with sexual innuendo, and they sometimes rewrote the lyrics to popular standards in the same spirit; meanwhile, Butera's jump blues/R&B background kept the music equally lively. Even if the music was aimed at older listeners, it shared a great deal of the spirit of early rock & roll. In 1956, Prima inked a new deal with Capitol, which marked the beginning of the most celebrated and influential period of his recording career. His first album for the label was 1956's The Wildest!, which successfully translated the high energy of his live act into a studio recording; it featured many of his best-known latter-day songs, including the "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" medley, "Jump, Jive an' Wail," "Buona Sera," "Oh Marie," and the jive-talking duet "The Lip." Over the next few years, Capitol issued six more Prima albums, highlighted by 1957's The Call of the Wildest and 1958's concert set The Wildest Show in Tahoe. He appeared frequently on The Ed Sullivan Show and other variety programs, and in 1958 he and Smith won a Grammy for their hit version of "That Old Black Magic." In 1959, they appeared in the film Hey Boy! Hey Girl!, which featured their renditions of the title song, "Lazy River," and "Banana Split for My Baby," among others. While Prima and Smith boasted terrific chemistry on stage, their infidelity-riddled marriage was floundering by the close of the '50s. In 1961, Prima switched from Capitol to Dot Records, and from the Sahara Hotel to the Desert Inn; with his popularity still running high, both deals netted huge sums of money. However, Smith divorced him later that year, scuttling the act and largely negating the deals. Prima returned to Capitol for one final album, 1962's The Wildest Comes Home, and hired a new female vocalist, Gia Maione, who became his fifth wife in 1963. Without Smith, he was never again as popular or prolific on record, but he continued to perform in Las Vegas with Butera and the Witnesses, and toured successfully as well. In 1967, Disney tapped Prima to voice the character of King Louie, ruler of the orangutans, in its animated adaptation of The Jungle Book; his featured number, the swinging "I Wanna Be Like You," ranks among the best-loved Disney songs of its era. Prima spent much of the late '60s and early '70s playing Vegas casinos and lounges, most notably at the Sands Hotel. With more and more musical acts taking up residence in the city, Prima no longer had the drawing power of old, and in the early '70s he and Butera returned home to New Orleans, where they made a steadier living playing in the French Quarter for the tourist crowd. In late 1975, Prima underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor, and fell into a coma; although he survived for nearly three more years, he never regained consciousness, and died on August 24, 1978. Prima's music began to reappear in subsequent years; ex-Van Halen singer David Lee Roth scored the best-remembered hit of his solo career with a carbon-copy version of "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" in 1985, and onetime Stray Cat Brian Setzer scored a Grammy-winning hit with his cover of "Jump, Jive an' Wail." Prima's original version was featured in a Gap commercial around the same time, and the swing-dancing fad of the time helped bring the rest of his music back into the public eye. Meanwhile, Sam Butera continued to perform Prima hits from the golden years on the casino circuits in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
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Discography: Louis Prima
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Just a Gigolo: Anthologie

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Golden Hits

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Wildest 1975

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Prima Generation '72

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King of Clubs

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New Sounds of the Louis Prima Show

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Prima Show in the Casbar

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Just a Gigolo [2002]

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Angelina [Prima]

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EP Collection

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Selection of Louis Prima

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Louis Prima, Vol. 1

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V-Disc Recordings

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Louis Prima [Entertainers]

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1945

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Cocktail Hour

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Complete Brunswick and Vocalion Recordings 1924-1937

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Best of the War Years

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Jump 'N Boogie

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Encore of Golden Hits

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Live Jazz from Club 15

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Swing N Jive

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Plays and Sings the Standards

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Plays Pretty for the People [Collector's Choice]

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Hey Boy! Hey Girl!/Swingin' Pretty

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Rhythm Man!

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Just a Gigolo [Goldies]

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Buona Sera

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Jump, Jive an' Wail: The Essential

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1934-1935

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On Stage

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Boogie Woogie

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1944-1945

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Swing It!

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1935-1936

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Greatest Hits

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Just a Gigolo & Other Hits

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1934-1939 Broadcasts, Vol. 1

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1940s Broadcasts with Keely Smith, Vol. 2

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1950's & 60's Broadcasts, Vol. 3: Just a Gigolo

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Classic Album Collection

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Call of the Wildest/The Wildest Show at Tahoe

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Wildest! [Expanded]

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Essence of Louis Prima

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Live from Las Vegas

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Live from Las Vegas

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Pretty Music -- Prima Style, Vols. 1-2

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1937-1939

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Just a Gigolo [Disky]

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1940-1944

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Very Best of Louis Prima [Prism Leisure]

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Buona Sera: The Best, the Wildest

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Original

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His Greatest Hits

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Louis Prima Orchestra

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Buona Sera (The Entertainers Series)

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Remember

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Let's Fly with Mary Poppins

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Hits of Louis & Keely

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Wonderland by Night

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Louis and Keely!

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Call of the Wildest

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Wildest!

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Capitol Recordings

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Capitol Recordings

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Wild, Cool & Swingin

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Capitol Collectors Series

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Return of the Wildest [CD]

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Breaking It Up!

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Angelina [Viper's Nest]

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Beepin' & Boppin'

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Say It with a Slap

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Versatile Mr. Prima: Trumpet, Vocal and Hits

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Together

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Actor: Louis Prima
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  • Born: Dec 07, 1910 in New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Died: Aug 24, 1978 in New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '30s, '50s-'60s, '80s
  • Major Genres: Musical, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: The Jungle Book, Hey Boy! Hey Girl!, Big Business
  • First Major Screen Credit: Swing Cat's Jamboree (1933)

Biography

Italian-born musician Louis Prima spent most of his personal and professional life in his adopted home town of New Orleans. At age 13, Prima joined his older brother's band as a jazz trumpeter; within five years Louis was fronting his own group, the Collegiates. Rising to fame as a scat singer a la Cab Calloway and Martha Raye, Prima occasionally left Louisiana for Hollywood, guest-starring in such features as Rhythm on the Range (1936), Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937) and Rose of Washington Square (1939). He was also shown to good advantage in short subjects, notably RKO's Headliners series and a sprightly Columbia 2-reel comedy of 1936, The Champ's a Chump. From 1948 through 1962, Prima was married to vocalist Keely Smith, who dueted with Louis on several hit records, the most popular of which was "That Old Black Magic." Louis Prima's final movie gig was as the voice of King Louie in the 1967 Disney animated feature The Jungle Book. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: Louis Prima
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Louis Prima
Birth name Louis Prima
Also known as The King of the Swingers (from the Jungle Book)
Born December 7, 1910(1910-12-07)
Origin New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Died August 24, 1978 (aged 67)
Genres Jazz
Swing
Traditional pop
Occupations Singer, Entertainer, Trumpeter, Bandleader
Instruments vocals, trumpet
Years active 1936–1975
Associated acts Keely Smith
Website Official website

Louis Prima (7 December 1910[1]24 August 1978) was an Italian-American entertainer, singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-rock band in the 1960s. In each of his musical endeavors, he incorporated his exuberant personality into his act.

Contents

Biography

Origins

Prima was born into a musical family in New Orleans. His family emigrated from Sicily, Italy, and after a brief stay in Argentina settled in the United States. Prima studied violin for several years as a child. His older brother Leon was a well regarded local bandleader. Prima was proud of his heritage, and made a point of letting the audience know at every performance that he was Italian-American and from New Orleans. His singing and playing showed that he absorbed many of the same influences as his fellow Crescent City musician, Louis Armstrong, particularly in his hoarse voice and scat singing.

In his youth, Prima played trumpet with Irving Fazola, his brother's band, and the pit band of the Saenger Theater. In 1933 he began his busy recording career, as part of the David Rose orchestra at station WGN, Chicago; he was also part of the small recording group The Hotcha Trio, with Rose on piano and Norman Gast on violin. In 1934 Prima moved to New York, working regularly on 52nd Street with old New Orleans friends like Eddie Miller (tenor sax and clarinet) and George Brunies (trombone), and also new acquaintances like Pee Wee Russell (clarinet). Prima's informal jazz group was known as Louis Prima and His New Orleans Gang, and this band recorded prolifically for Brunswick through 1936, and then for Vocalion and Decca.

Prima's 1936 composition, "Sing Sing Sing", became one of his biggest hits and one of the most covered standards of the swing era; Benny Goodman's performance of the song at Carnegie Hall with a featured performance by Gene Krupa on drums has become iconic.

Louis Prima and His Band

Prima moved to Los Angeles to headline at the Famous Door nightclub. He appeared in several Hollywood movies, including a featured performance with Bing Crosby in the 1936 film Rhythm on the Range. Prima and his Dixieland Gang continued to play club dates across the nation, including a 1939 stint at New York's Hickory House.

Big bands were big business then, and Prima apparently bowed to pressure from booking agents and formed a conventional big band in 1940. He exploited a distinctive, shuffling beat (which he called "Gleeby Rhythm"); this trademark Prima shuffle remained part of his repertoire for two decades. Prima sang most of the band vocals, with Lily Ann Carol as the "girl singer." Prima's high-powered drummer at this time was Jimmy Vincent, an energetic teenager who remained with the Prima band for many years.

In 1947 he added singer Cathy Ricciardi, who recorded under the name Cathy Allen. She was succeeded in 1949 by Keely Smith (who was to become his fourth wife), and the band concentrated on novelty songs like "Civilization (Bongo Bongo Bongo)" and "All Right, Louis, Drop the Gun." Prima's big band continued into the early 1950s, with a series of novelty recordings supervised (sometimes heavy-handedly) by record producer Mitch Miller.

Vegas years

The popularity of the big-band sound started to wane, and Prima began losing money, just as he needed it to support the pregnant Smith. Prima found work with Smith in small venues all over the East Coast. Eventually he called up his friend Bill Miller, who was then entertainment director of The Sahara nightclub and casino in Las Vegas, and asked for a job. His friend Cab Calloway warned him against the cramped Sahara lounge, but the financial pressure was too great. Prima telephoned saxophonist Sam Butera and instructed him to pick up a few musicians and go to Las Vegas in time for Prima's debut.

Prima acknowledged his new musicians for the opening-night crowd, and spontaneously asked Butera what the name of the band was. Butera ad-libbed, "The Witnesses!" From then on, Sam Butera and the Witnesses backed Prima and Smith on stage and records.

Prima and Smith worked hard throughout the 1950s, performing multiple shows a night and finishing at 6 a.m. Their efforts were rewarded with a resurgence in their popularity, and they were at least partly responsible for making the lounge at The Sahara a hotspot. On stage, Prima insisted on Smith adopting a humorless, poker-faced character that would play straight to Prima's zany ad libs. Smith actually had a fine sense of comedy that is often audible on the team's recordings; no matter how much the incorrigible Prima tried to disrupt her vocals, Smith would often come back with a funny remark of her own.

Louis Prima and Keely Smith were very much the model for Sonny & Cher: the exuberant Italian musician and the serious, exotic female singer, Smith and Cher both being of Cherokee descent (although Cher's heritage is primarily Armenian). Similarly, echoes of the stage banter between Prima and Butera would be heard years later in the early performances of the E Street Band and the interplay between Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons.

In 1959, Prima and Smith won the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus for "That Old Black Magic."

In 1956 the Prima ensemble performed at the Sahara Hotel and Casino to record tracks for the album The Wildest!. It was an attempt by Capitol Records to capture the essence of the Vegas act. Over the next nine years, Prima and Smith raised two children, while he made scores of records, owned racehorses, appeared on television, and even opened a golf course. They outgrew the lounge and were promoted to the big room. They appeared in a few quickie musical films, including Senior Prom and Hey Boy! Hey Girl! Prima co-produced the feature Twist All Night, in which his band also appeared.

During this whirlwind of activity, according to Smith, the couple drifted farther and farther apart. One night, he refused to conduct for one of Smith's performances, delegating to Butera instead. A few days later they were in court, petitioning for divorce.

Later years

Following the divorce, he began dating Gia Maione. Maione was a long-time fan of Prima's, was already familiar with all the arrangements to his songs, and even kept a signed photo of him in her purse. She eventually became Prima's fifth and final wife, and was with the band right up until 1975. By this point, the band was putting out a markedly different and more contemporary sound, with electric organs and synthesizers, even dabbling in progressive rock.

In 1967 Prima's distinctive voice and jazzy delivery landed him a role in Walt Disney's animated feature The Jungle Book, as the raucous orangutan King Louie. He performed the hit song "I Wanna Be Like You" on the soundtrack, leading to the recording of two albums with Phil Harris: The Jungle Book and More Jungle Book, on Disneyland Records. He can also be heard on the soundtrack of another cartoon feature, The Man Called Flintstone.

He suffered a mild heart attack in 1973. In 1975, following headaches and episodes of memory loss, Louis Prima sought medical attention, and found out he had a stem brain tumor. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and went into a coma following surgery to remove the tumor. He never recovered, and died three years later, having been moved back to New Orleans. He was buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans; his gray marble crypt is topped by a figure of Gabriel, the trumpeter-angel. The inscription on the crypt's door quote the lyrics from one of his hits: "When the end comes, I know, they'll all say 'just a gigolo' as life goes on without me. Lovingly, your little family..."[1]

Legacy

The Prima-Butera arrangements and recordings continued to be copied by younger musicians, including David Lee Roth, who covered his medley of "Just a Gigolo"/"I Ain't Got Nobody" in the 1980s, and Brian Setzer, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and other nouveau swing bands of the 1990s, covering such Prima standards as "Jump, Jive and Wail". The pop band Smash Mouth mentioned his name in the song "Heave-Ho" (from their album Fush Yu Mang), and covered "I Wanna Be Like You" for the soundtrack album of The Jungle Book 2. "I Wanna Be Like You" was also covered by Los Lobos, Phish and by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy for the soundtrack of the 1996 movie Swingers. The surviving original members of Bill Haley & His Comets have recorded and performed several of Prima's songs since the mid-1990s, most notably "Buona Sera", which they dedicate to Prima's memory. Alex Harvey and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band also came under the spell of Louis Prima.

Louis Prima wrote the swing classic "Sing Sing Sing" which was covered by Fletcher Henderson and Benny Goodman. In 1940, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded "Be Happy", a song Louis Prima co-wrote. "A Sunday Kind of Love" was another Louis Prima composition that became a standard of the swing and big band era. "Jump Jive an' Wail" was a Louis Prima composition that became another standard, a song which was revived by Brian Setzer.

Prima's original recordings have also featured in many films, including Mad Dog and Glory, Big Night, Anger Management, Mickey Blue Eyes, Sopranos, Casino, Swingers, Kicking and Screaming, Elf, Swing Kids, Analyze This and Igor. Prima's character also plays an important role in the film Big Night; he is the famous celebrity who never appears.

Sam Butera and the Wildest toured with their Prima tribute, between 2000 and 2004, before Butera retired. He died from complications due to pneumonia, on June 3, 2009.

In 2008, Vanessa Claire Smith and Jake Broder wrote and starred in the new musical, "Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara," which premiered at Los Angeles' Sacred Fools Theatre Company and went on to be nominated for four Ovation Awards, including the Franklin R. Levy Award for Musical in an Intimate Theatre, which it won. Keely Smith herself attended a performance, as recounted at the show's official website.

Also in 2008, Louis Prima was posthumously inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

The music of Louis Prima and Keely Smith is also kept alive by swing revival artists worldwide including Dominic Halpin and the Honey B's in the UK.

Discography

  • Breaking It Up! (1953)
  • The Wildest! (1957)
  • The Call of the Wildest (1957)
  • The Wildest Show at Tahoe (1958)
  • Las Vegas Prima Style (1958)
  • Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959)
  • Louis Prima (1959)
  • Strictly Prima (1959)
  • Louis and Keely! (1960)
  • Wonderland by Night (1960)
  • Doin' the Twist (1961)
  • The Wildest Comes Home (1962)
  • Let's Fly with Mary Poppins (1965)

References

  • Boulard, Garry "Louis Prima" (University of Illinois, 2002)

External links


 
 

 

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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Louis Prima" Read more

 

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