| The Wildest! | ||||
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| 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) | |||
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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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"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. 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.
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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.
Nothing's Too Good For My Baby may refer to:
Bill Miller was a Russian Empire-born American impresario, best known for serving as the entertainment director for several large casino hotels in Las Vegas from the 1950s to the 1970s. He was the father of music producer Jimmy Miller and of The New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
