Description
Release Date: 2011
Label: Bear Family Records
Track List
- Jump, Jive, An’ Wail
- Just A Gigolo / I Ain’t Got Nobody
- Oh Marie
- Bim Bam
- I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You
- Buona Sera
- I’ve Got The World On A String
- Ten Little Women
- Pennies From Heaven
- That Old Black Magic
- Them There Eyes/Honeysuckle Rose
- Twinkle In Your Eye
- Gotta See Baby Tonight
- Basin Street Blues/When It’s Sleepy Time Down
- Night Train
- Equator
- Whistle Stop
- Five Months, Two Weeks, Two Days
- I’ve Got You Under My Skin
- Sam Butera: Handle With Care
- Banana Split For My Baby
- When You’re Smiling/The Sheik Of Araby
- There’ll Be No Next Time
- Dig That Crazy Chick
- Hey Boy, Hey Girl
- Everybody Knows
- Be Mine (Little Baby)
- Up Jumped A Rabbit
- Three Handed Woman
- Angelina/Zooma Zooma (Medley)
Notes
Louis Prima can’t be pigeon-holed. Jump blues, vaudeville, Dixieland jazz, Sicilian boogie, swing and flat-out rock ‘n’ roll; they were all reflected in the riotous lounge act which he pioneered if not invented. Despite his age (born 1910) and a recording career which spanned four decades, Prima understood rock ‘n’ roll. ‘It’s got that beat’ he said. ‘There’s nothing, but nothing, wrong with rock ‘n’ roll’.
This collection doesn’t overlook his jazz-inflected pop hits with Keely Smith but it relies primarily on his very best recordings for Capitol, those which capture the exalted frenzy of his live show and the rumbustious spirit of ’50s rock ‘n’ roll. It includes his own full-steam ahead classic, Jump, Jive An’ Wail, several innovative medleys and a clutch of attractive rockers by his accompanists, tenor sax player Sam Butera and his band, the Witnesses. Spurned by critics at the time, this anthology of ground-breaking, house-rocking music restores Louis Prima to his rightful, well-deserved place in the reissue spotlight.
