| The Wildest! | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1956 [1] August 13, 2002 (reissue) | |||
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| Length | 32:00 [2] | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Voyle Gilmore (1956) Michael Cuscuna (2002) | |||
| Louis Prima chronology | ||||
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The Wildest! is an album by Louis Prima, first released in 1956. It features singer Keely Smith with saxophonist Sam Butera and the Witnesses. It is considered an innovative mixture of early rock and roll, jump blues and jazz as well as eccentric humor. [2] [3] [4]
Louis Prima was a well-known 1930s and 1940s trumpeter and singer who had a moderate series of hit singles at that time. He initially gained popularity in his home city of New Orleans and later in New York. By 1954, Prima had joined a Louisiana band led by Sam Butera. With Prima's stage partner and wife Keely Smith, he, Butera and the Witnesses secured a gig at the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. They soon became the most popular act in that city. [4]
On April 19, 1956 the band gathered at the casino lounge to record tracks for the album. Capitol Records attempted to retain Prima's "in person" performance and spirit to capture what he referred to as "three o'clock in the morning at the Sahara" with the group. One of the songs recorded, "Jump, Jive, an' Wail" would become a hit through Brian Setzer's cover version in 1998. [4]
The Wildest! was reissued on August 13, 2002 by producer Michael Cuscuna. The album contains four additional tracks recorded on September 13, 1956 as well as new liner notes by the producer. [4]
Allmusic expressed that "The Wildest! is the gem of Louis Prima's catalogue. None of his other efforts transcend its raunchy mix of demented gibberish, blaring sax, and explosive swing, which rocked as hard as anything released at the time." The album is considered a collection of Prima's signature recordings. [3]
The Wildest! is noted in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . In it, critic Will Fulford-Jones states, "this is simply irrepressible music that more than matches its cover shot. Prima is joyous, rumbustious, and irresistible." [2]
| No. | Title | Writing | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Medley: Just a Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody (and Nobody Cares for Me)" | Leonello Casucci, Julius Brammer, Irving Caesar / Spencer Williams, Roger A. Graham | 4:42 |
| 2. | "(Nothing's Too Good) For My Baby" | Mack H. Kay, Fred Patrick, Ted Eddy (né Ted Eddy Simonetti; 1902–1985) | 2:36 |
| 3. | "The Lip" | Ted Klages, Vic Knight | 2:15 |
| 4. | "Body and Soul (instrumental)" | Frank Eyton, Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour | 3:22 |
| 5. | "Oh Marie" | Eduardo Di Capua, arr. Louis Prima | 2:25 |
| No. | Title | Writing | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Medley: Basin Street Blues / When It's Sleepy Time Down South" | Spencer Williams / Leon Rene, Otis Rene, Clarence Muse | 4:12 |
| 7. | "Jump, Jive, an' Wail" | Prima | 3:28 |
| 8. | "Buona Sera" | Peter DeRose, Carl Sigman | 2:58 |
| 9. | "Night Train (instrumental)" | Jimmy Forrest | 2:46 |
| 10. | "(I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You" | Sam Theard | 3:13 |
| No. | Title | Writing | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Five Months, Two Weeks, Two Days [F3566a]" | Debbie Moore, Don Donaldson | 2:08 |
| 12. | "Banana Split for My Baby [F3566b]" | Prima, Stan Irwin | 2:29 |
| 13. | "Whistle Stop [F3615a]" | Jimmy Breadlove | 2:15 |
| 14. | "Be Mine (Little Baby) [F3615b]" | Sam Butera, Prima | 2:35 |
Louis Leo Prima was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he formed a seven-piece New Orleans-style jazz band in the late 1920s, fronted a swing combo in the 1930s and a big band group in the 1940s, helped to popularize jump blues in the late 1940s and early to mid 1950s, and performed frequently as a Vegas lounge act beginning in the 1950s.
Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, professionally known as Keely Smith, was an American jazz and popular music singer, who performed and recorded extensively in the 1950s with then-husband Louis Prima, and throughout the 1960s as a solo artist.
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"Just a Gigolo" is a popular song, adapted by Irving Caesar into English in 1929 from the Austrian tango "Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo", composed in 1928 in Vienna by Leonello Casucci to lyrics written in 1924 by Julius Brammer.
Gia Maione Prima was an American singer and the fifth wife of musician/entertainer Louis Prima.
Sam Butera was an American tenor saxophonist and singer best noted for his collaborations with Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Butera is frequently regarded as a crossover artist who performed with equal ease in both R&B and the post-big band pop style of jazz that permeated the early Vegas nightclub scene.
"I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)" is a song from Walt Disney's 1967 film The Jungle Book. The song was written by songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman, and was performed by singer and musician Louis Prima as King Louie, with Phil Harris providing additional vocals as Baloo the bear.
"I Ain't Got Nobody" is a popular song copyrighted in 1915. Roger A. Graham (1885–1938) wrote the lyrics, Spencer Williams composed it, and Roger Graham Music Publishing published it. It was first recorded by Marion Harris, and became a perennial standard, recorded many times over the following generations, in styles ranging from pop to jazz to country music. The 2008 film Be Kind Rewind uses the version recorded by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, although two covers were recorded for the film as well: a piano solo version by Jean-Michel Bernard, and a Fats Waller-esque version by Mos Def.
A Date with the Everly Brothers is the fourth studio album by American singing duo the Everly Brothers, released in 1960. It peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Pop albums charts and reached No. 3 in the UK.
Pelican West is the debut studio album by the British new wave band Haircut One Hundred, released on 26 February 1982 by Arista Records. It peaked at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 31 on the Billboard 200, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
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Louis Prima Jr. is an American jazz singer and the son of Louis Prima.
When the Feeling Hits You! is a 1965 studio album by Sammy Davis Jr., featuring Sam Butera and the Witnesses.
"Skinny Minnie" is a 1958 song co-written and recorded by Bill Haley and his Comets. The song was released as a Decca single which became a Top 40 chart hit in the U.S.
"Jump, Jive an' Wail" is a 1956 jazz swing song by Louis Prima. It first appeared on his album The Wildest! and became one of his signature songs.
Lou Sino was a New Orleans trombonist and singer who came to prominence as a member of Louis Prima's backing band The Witnesses, led by Sam Butera. He also released a number of his own recordings with his band The Bengals.
Mira Ann Smith was an American songwriter, music industry pioneer, record label owner, studio engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. In 1955, she founded Royal Audio Music, Inc. and became one of the first women to own her own record company. Her success led some in the music business to dub her "the female Sam Phillips". Smith is most well known for the songs she wrote with singer/songwriter Margaret Lewis (Warwick), many of which charted on the Billboard Top 10. Smith and Lewis found their greatest songwriting success with singer Jeannie C. Riley, and wrote many of her songs including, "The Girl Most Likely", "Oh Singer", "The Rib" and "There Never Was a Time". In addition, Smith and Lewis wrote hit songs for artists such as David Houston, Margaret Whiting, Peggy Scott and Jo Jo Benson ("Soulshake"). Four artists charted on Billboard with the Smith and Lewis song "Reconsider Me": Johnny Adams (1969), Ray Pillow (1969), John Wesly Ryles (1971) and Narvel Felts (1975). Smith received six outstanding achievement awards from the Broadcast Music Industry (BMI). In 1988, she was inducted into the Southern Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 1995 Smith was the first woman inducted into the Women in Music Hall of Fame.
