In his youth, Prima played trumpet with Irving Fazola, his brother's band, and the pit band of the Saenger Theater. In 1933 he began his busy recording career, as part of the David Rose orchestra at station WGN, Chicago; he was also part of the small recording group The Hotcha Trio, with Rose on piano and Norman Gast on violin. In 1934 Prima moved to New York, working regularly on 52nd Street with old New Orleans friends like Eddie Miller (tenor sax and clarinet) and George Brunies (trombone), and also new acquaintances like Pee Wee Russell (clarinet). Prima's informal jazz group was known as Louis Prima and His New Orleans Gang, and this band recorded prolifically for Brunswick through 1936, and then for Vocalion and Decca.
Prima's 1936 composition, "Sing Sing Sing", which he had released with the New Orleans Gang in March, 1936 as a Brunswick 78, Brunswick 7628, with "It's Been So Long" as the B side, became one of his biggest hits and one of the most covered standards of the swing era; Benny Goodman's performance of the song at Carnegie Hall with a featured performance by Gene Krupa on drums has become iconic.
Louis Prima and His Band
Prima moved to Los Angeles to headline at the Famous Door nightclub. He appeared in several Hollywood movies, including a featured performance with Bing Crosby in the 1936 film Rhythm on the Range. Prima and his Dixieland Gang continued to play club dates across the nation, including a 1939 stint at New York's Hickory House.
Big bands were big business then, and Prima apparently bowed to pressure from booking agents and formed a conventional big band in 1940. He exploited a distinctive, shuffling beat (which he called "Gleeby Rhythm"); this trademark Prima shuffle remained part of his repertoire for two decades. Prima sang most of the band vocals, with Lily Ann Carol as the "girl singer." Prima's high-powered drummer at this time was Jimmy Vincent, an energetic teenager who remained with the Prima band for many years.
In 1947 he added singer Cathy Ricciardi, who recorded under the name Cathy Allen. She was succeeded in 1949 by Keely Smith (who was to become his fourth wife), and the band concentrated on novelty songs like "Civilization (Bongo Bongo Bongo)" and "All Right, Louis, Drop the Gun." Prima's big band continued into the early 1950s, with a series of novelty recordings supervised (sometimes heavy-handedly) by record producer Mitch Miller.
Vegas years
The popularity of the big-band sound started to wane, and Prima began losing money, just as he needed it to support the pregnant Smith. Prima found work with Smith in small venues all over the East Coast. Eventually he called up his friend Bill Miller, who was then entertainment director of The Sahara nightclub and casino in Las Vegas, and asked for a job. His friend Cab Calloway warned him against the cramped Sahara lounge, but the financial pressure was too great. Prima telephoned saxophonist Sam Butera and instructed him to pick up a few musicians and go to Las Vegas in time for Prima's debut.
Prima acknowledged his new musicians for the opening-night crowd, and spontaneously asked Butera what the name of the band was. Butera ad-libbed, "The Witnesses!" From then on, Sam Butera and the Witnesses backed Prima and Smith on stage and records.
Prima and Smith worked hard throughout the 1950s, performing multiple shows a night and finishing at 6 a.m. Their efforts were rewarded with a resurgence in their popularity, and they were at least partly responsible for making the lounge at The Sahara a hotspot. On stage, Prima insisted on Smith adopting a humorless, poker-faced character that would play straight to Prima's zany ad libs. Smith actually had a fine sense of comedy that is often audible on the team's recordings; no matter how much the incorrigible Prima tried to disrupt her vocals, Smith would often come back with a funny remark of her own.
Louis Prima and Keely Smith were very much the model for Sonny & Cher: the exuberant Italian musician and the serious, exotic female singer, Smith and Cher both being of Cherokee descent (although Cher's heritage is primarily Armenian). Similarly, echoes of the stage banter between Prima and Butera would be heard years later in the early performances of the E Street Band and the interplay between Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons.
In 1959, Prima and Smith won the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus for "That Old Black Magic."
In 1956 the Prima ensemble performed at the Sahara Hotel and Casino to record tracks for the album The Wildest!. It was an attempt by Capitol Records to capture the essence of the Vegas act. Over the next nine years, Prima and Smith raised two children, while he made scores of records, owned racehorses, appeared on television, and even opened a golf course. They outgrew the lounge and were promoted to the big room. They appeared in a few quickie musical films, including Senior Prom and Hey Boy! Hey Girl! Prima co-produced the feature Twist All Night, in which his band also appeared.
During this whirlwind of activity, according to Smith, the couple drifted farther and farther apart. One night, he refused to conduct for one of Smith's performances, delegating to Butera instead. A few days later they were in court, petitioning for divorce.
Later years
Following the divorce, he began dating Gia Maione. Maione was a long-time fan of Prima's, was already familiar with all the arrangements to his songs, and even kept a signed photo of him in her purse. She eventually became Prima's fifth and final wife, and was with the band right up until 1975. By this point, the band was putting out a markedly different and more contemporary sound, with electric organs and synthesizers, even dabbling in progressive rock.
In 1967 Prima's distinctive voice and jazzy delivery landed him a role in Walt Disney's animated feature The Jungle Book, as the raucous orangutan King Louie. He performed the hit song "I Wanna Be Like You" on the soundtrack, leading to the recording of two albums with Phil Harris: The Jungle Book and More Jungle Book, on Disneyland Records. He can also be heard on the soundtrack of another cartoon feature, The Man Called Flintstone.
He suffered a mild heart attack in 1973. In 1975, following headaches and episodes of memory loss, Louis Prima sought medical attention, and found out he had a stem brain tumor. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and went into a coma following surgery to remove the tumor. He never recovered, and died three years later, having been moved back to New Orleans. He was buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans; his gray marble crypt is topped by a figure of Gabriel, the trumpeter-angel. The inscription on the crypt's door quote the lyrics from one of his hits: "When the end comes, I know, they'll all say 'just a gigolo' as life goes on without me. Lovingly, your little family..."
It's Magic
Louis Prima Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You speak and I hear violins
It's magic
(It's magic)
The stars desert the skies
And rush to nestle in your eyes
It's magic
Without a golden wand
Or mystic charms
Fantastic things begin
When I am in your arms
When we walk hand in hand
The world becomes a wonderland
Oh, it's magic
(It's magic)
How else can I explain
Those rainbows when there is no rain?
It's magic, why do I tell myself
These things that happen
Are all really true
When within my heart I know
The magic is my love for you?
Why do I tell myself
These things that happen
Are all really true
When within my heart I know
The magic is my love for you?
(The magic is my love for you)
Louis Prima's song It's Magic is a beautiful representation of the transformative power of love. The song begins with a description of how the mere sound of the beloved's sigh initiates music in the lover's ears. The lover can hear violins when the beloved speaks. This is a metaphor for the lover's heightened sensitivity and connection to his lover. The stars leave the sky to find comfort in the beloved's eyes. This explains how the lover sees the entire universe in the beloved's eyes. The song conveys a sense of amazement and mystery about the magic of love and the transformative power it possesses.
The chorus of the song explains how the two lovers are transported to a world of enchantment when they are together. This all happens without any tangible intervention like a golden wand or any other mystical charm. The lover reflects that just being in the beloved's arms creates magical things. Walking hand in hand, they transcend the ordinary to enter a magical world where everything is possible. Even rainbows appear out of nowhere, signifying the power that their love has to transform the world around them.
In the final verses, the lover reflects on the irrationality of their love but still believes in its magical power. They acknowledge that their logical mind knows that these phenomena aren't real or scientific, but their heart tells them otherwise. The magic, according to the lover's heart, is the love they have for each other. This makes the song a powerful declaration of the transformative power of love and its ability to change the world for the better.
Line by Line Meaning
You sigh and the song begins
As soon as you sigh, my heart is filled with music and my feelings for you come alive
You speak and I hear violins
Every time you talk, I feel like I am listening to a beautiful piece of violin music
It's magic
The way I feel around you is nothing short of magical
(It's magic)
The stars desert the skies
The stars leave the sky to come and shine in your eyes
And rush to nestle in your eyes
They quickly go to your eyes and make them sparkle like stars
Without a golden wand
I don't need any magical item to experience something enchanting
Or mystic charms
No magic spells or charms is needed to make me feel this way
Fantastic things begin
Whenever we are together, amazing things start to happen
When I am in your arms
Feeling your embrace is all I need to experience something truly magical
When we walk hand in hand
Walking with you holding my hand makes the world feel like a magical wonderland
The world becomes a wonderland
Everything around me transforms into a place of pure magic
Oh, it's magic
It's hard to explain, but being with you is truly something magical
(It's magic)
How else can I explain
I find it difficult to describe my feelings and experiences around you
Those rainbows when there is no rain?
Seeing the beauty of the world like rainbows even when there is no rain is a sign of magic
It's magic, why do I tell myself
I know it's hard to believe, but what I feel around you is true magic
These things that happen
Everything that happens when we are together is something magical
Are all really true
I know my experiences around you are real and not just my imagination
When within my heart I know
Deep down in my heart, I am aware
The magic is my love for you?
The real magic is my love for you, which makes everything around me feel magical
Why do I tell myself
I wonder why I need to remind myself
(The magic is my love for you)
The true reason behind all the magic is my love for you
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JULE STYNE, SAMMY CAHN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@slicksnewonenow
@@glenntremblay5406 I'm pretty sure that actual choreography would have wrecked the Prima show... He and Keeley were known for their goofy, off the cuff antics.
To me, the craziest part of it was how GREAT the whole band was... And every song almost sounded different, each time it was played (when seeing the live footage and they play a certain song in a different tempo, faster or slower than the record) those guys were RIGHT ON IT.
My grandparents loved that band and would go see them whenever they'd play shows close enough to their hometown... And I was blessed by getting to meet Miss Keeley and Mr. Butera once in Las Vegas.
This was in the Nineties and both of them still had "it".
That was one of the highlights of my life!
Wow... What a show!
@jeffreybarkin3177
@@bishlap
This is COLOURIZED as Colour Film Recording was not yet available yet when this was likely recorded...
But, Keely SMITH and LOIUS PRIMA's Live shows in places like The Neville in the scenic Catskill's resort country clubs were Legendary!
Believe THIS recording is from 1958, when Las Vegas was being first developed...
Today, this would be TOTALLY VEGAS!
@stephencurtis1504
This is my old dads favourite song , he always used to sing it , he’s 91 years old and suffers from dementia and now lives in a care home, but still sings it to all the female residents in the home , bless him forever. STEVE C.
@poppyfield1619
Bless him!😘
@glenntremblay5406
My dad played it for me years ago and I instantly loved it... Great song.
It's too bad they weren't choreographing dance moves back then as that would have put it over the top absolutely.
@aug9676
All the choicest blessings for your pops' i bet he knows how to have fun🤣
@slicksnewonenow
@@glenntremblay5406 I'm pretty sure that actual choreography would have wrecked the Prima show... He and Keeley were known for their goofy, off the cuff antics.
To me, the craziest part of it was how GREAT the whole band was... And every song almost sounded different, each time it was played (when seeing the live footage and they play a certain song in a different tempo, faster or slower than the record) those guys were RIGHT ON IT.
My grandparents loved that band and would go see them whenever they'd play shows close enough to their hometown... And I was blessed by getting to meet Miss Keeley and Mr. Butera once in Las Vegas.
This was in the Nineties and both of them still had "it".
That was one of the highlights of my life!
Wow... What a show!
@logann7942
Much love to you and your dad. Music does something different to people. I’ve known dementia patients who don’t remember their own families, but if you find a song they liked, they remember every word. ❤
@artbeau
Got a chance to see Keely in 2010 in CA. She was absolutely genuine. She pitched the first number, "It's Magic". She stopped mid-note to say, "Stop! Stop! What the hell... " Someone right in front of us hollered.... "WE LOVE YOU KEELY"... She said "I love you too and you deserve better." She started over and absolutely killed it!!! The rest of the show was absolutely amazing! I was so happy I was able to see this legend in my lifetime!
@scottsmith2508
Keely Smith is the best. The absolute very best. She's exceptionally cute and exceptionally talented.
@barneypooch
I'm so jealous I could kill!
@catchawave1963
Saw her around the same time. Her tribute album to Sinatra from this period is terrific.