[Dixielandjazz] Louis Prima Jr. interviewed - Fort Myers (Florida) News-Press, December 27, 2013

[Robert Ringwald]

Louis Prima Jr. Resurrects the Music of His Jazz Great Father
by Charles Runnells
Fort Myers (Florida) News-Press, December 27, 2013
He went to college to be a business major, but that didn't last long.
Who was he kidding? He's Louis Prima Jr. -- son of New Orleans jazz great Louis Prima
-- and music has been in his blood since childhood.
It's his heritage.
"My father was throwing me onstage as far back as I can remember," Prima Jr. says.
"I was 5 years old when I was onstage and singing, and he'd make me tell dirty jokes
and things!
"It was a normal thing for me. It was just a normal part of life."
Now Prima Jr., 48, has fully embraced his legacy and makes a living performing his
dad's music along with a handful of his own originals. The result has been rave reviews,
a record deal and high-profile appearances on PBS and at the New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage Festival.
Prima Jr. and his eight-piece band, The Witnesses, are coming to Seminole Casino
this Saturday. And here's what audiences can expect: Classics such as "Sing, Sing,
Sing," "Jump, Jive an' Wail," "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't
Got Nobody" -- all performed with Prima-style humor and some 21st century rock 'n'
roll energy.
"It's very much what my father would be doing now (if he were alive today)," says
the Las Vegas-based singer and trumpet player. "We're up there having fun and laughing,
ourselves. It's all about going out there, getting sweaty, tapping your foot and
having a good time."
Before forming The Witnesses, Prima Jr. attempted a rock career with his '80s band,
Problem Child, but that never panned out. So, about a decade ago, he decided to switch
to his dad's music.
"And that's when I got a record deal!" he says and laughs. "It all comes around."
Those songs are classics for a reason, Prima Jr. says. They're fun and energetic
and full of real human emotion.
"My father's music is some of the greatest music ever written," he says. "He was
really incredible!"
Prima Jr. remembers shopping at Target recently and hearing "Pennies from Heaven,"
playing on the store's sound system. "You can't help but get a smile on your face
when you hear that music," he says. "It's very uplifting."
Prima Jr. has fond memories of his father, and life at the Prima house wasn't the
showbiz cliche people might imagine. When his dad came home from touring, they'd
usually have dinner promptly at 5 p.m., and he always made sure they made it to Sunday
church service.
"He liked to laugh," he says. "He liked to have fun. He really enjoyed his family.
He taught me a lot about humility and treating people with respect."
Decades later, Prima Jr. is taking those lessons and keeping the spirit of his famous
father alive. And he's having a blast in the process.
It sure beats pushing a pen around or adding up columns of numbers -- unless, of
course, those numbers are album and ticket sales.
"I love getting onstage and making people happy," Prima Jr. says. "It's big shoes
to fill, but I'm really having fun bringing it to people."
-30


-Bob Ringwald K6YBV
www.ringwald.com
916/ 806-9551

Why do shops have signs, “GUIDE DOGS ONLY?: 
The dogs can’t read and their owners are blind.