[Dixielandjazz] Louis Prima - Of possible interest

[Stephen G Barbone]

> "Phil O'Rourke" <philor at webone.com.au> wrote:
>
> Possible interest?
> The article barely scratches the surface of Prima's life and  
> contribution to
> music.
> It onlt mentions a little bit of Las Vegas; Prima was the first  
> entertainer
> in threr.
> I Have an 60 minute doco on Prima's life somewhere in my DVD  
> recorder, It
> shows a lot. The there is the book "Louis Prima" by Garry Boulard
> (University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-07090-9).
> A great musician and entertainer.

That he was, one of the greatest in both genres..

Our guitarist, Sonny Troy spent a few years working with Prima in Las  
Vegas. And when I go through my band member introduction routine, I  
always mention that, among other things, asking the audience for a  
show of hands as to who has seen Prima perform there or in other venues.

Sadly, that audience is shrinking like the regular OKOM audience who  
have see folks like Armstrong or Bechet et al. But they always light  
up about Prima, nod in agreement about his showmanship and come up to  
talk with Sonny on break, or after our program, to share some Prima  
stories.

When Sonny left the band and returned to Philadelphia, every time  
Prima would come East, he'd stop by at a gig to say hello and laugh  
about the good old days. He would also get pretty raunchy and, in a  
loud voice, say to Sonny something like: "Hey Sonny, can you get  
me . . . by one of these pretty women here?"

He was a fine New Orleans Jazz trumpeter who learned the secret of  
making money in swinging a show band format. All the while being an  
earthy and very funny guy constantly playing tricks on his band mates.

Best of all, while many oldsters may have ignored, or forgotten about  
him, today's swing dance kids know damn well who he was and they dance  
to his music.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband