Louis Prima, the Unsung Giant of American Pop Music

There is one musician who sits at the top of my must here at least once a week list. I must say that out of all of the music and musicians who have made an impact in modern times, this musician and his music have impacted music like a 100 mile wide meteor, yet for reasons far beyond my ability to understand he goes largely unrecognized or remembered.

Louis Prima, was a giant in American music beginning in the 1940s during the era of Big Bands. A new era of music began, with Louis coining such expressions as "swing" and other "hep" sayings like "solid jack," "crazy man," and many more. Later, it was decided to name Benny Goodman the King of Swing, but only as a result of a big hit on the song Sing Sing Sing, written by Louis Prima and subsequently entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The swing trend continued for Prima. His music eventually topped the sales of the then number one band, Guy Lombardo. In 1944, Louis and his twenty-two piece orchestra scored a tremendous hit with million seller "plus" entitled Angelina. It started the entire country talking about pizza.

Elvis Presley had the country "All Shook Up" and when asked where he got the wiggle, he replied, "From Louis Prima, of course." Louis and his combo style band the Witnesses were a traveling troupe of musical mayhem that had a unique sound because Louis had combined a New Orleans southern rock sound with a shuffle beat and added a wailing sax - thanks to the legendary Sam Butera. In 1959 Louis Prima was the most talked about attraction in the United States. In 1959 Louis Prima won the first Grammy award in the vocal group category for his recording of "That Old Black Magic".

The list of Louis Prima's credits goes on and on and continues to grow even today as his music constantly gets rediscovered. Even so, Louis Prima remains one of the least recognized names in the culture of popular music he so diligently pioneered.

Here is a list of my top 10 favorites:

Up A Lazy River
Just A Gigolo
St. Louis Blues
When You're Smilin'
Buona Serra
Zooma-Zooma
Pennies From Heaven
That old Black Magic
Sing, Sing, Sing
Pleaza No Squeeza Da Banana

Do yourself a favor and listen to just one of these tunes.

You'll be happy for the rest of the day, and a Louis Prima fan for life.