Louis Prima - The Wildest

No Prima donna, just a perfect entertainer

Louis Prima was a supreme showman and, as a guy who could fill a room with both his music and gruff, raucous singing voice, he was like a cultural Kenwood mixer. His stage act, with his on-stage wife and smooth vocalist Keely Smith, mixed swing jazz, jump blues, R&B, a bit of boogie woogie, plus half a dozen other genres into a circus-like menagerie whose upshot was nothing less than a breathless performance of music, song and between-song (and often between-line) chatter. This 1957 release is a veritable hits package that effuses energy and never lets up. Featuring Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody and Buona Sera, it’s Prima at his prime.

Pure Pleasure/DCC | 184

Reviewed by Paul Rigby
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