Younger readers not familiar with jazz who click on the link above will notice that the voice of the guy singing seems awfully familiar: it’s Louie Prima, jazz musician, singer and showman who did the voice for one of the apes in the Walt Disney cartoon “The Jungle Book.”
Prima was an incredible showman with personality that jumped out and grabbed audiences whether he was seen in person or on the tube. And his famous sax player and frequent musical arranger Sam Butera did a dastardly, little deed on adult audiences during Prima’s heyday of the 1950s and early 1960s: his sax playing was basically early rock but his adult audiences (who often hated Elvis Presley & Co and would not have a thing to do with any form of rock) loved it…because it was performed by jazz artists. But when you listen to it now it’s clear it was: the seeds of early rock. But less subversive when played by grown-ups…
We’ve posted some You Tube bits with great comedians. We’re posting this one because it’s more than just a musical number (which looks like it was from the old Ed Sullivan Show). Prima was a triple threat. And his stuff still holds well if you buy his CD…and watch him in action, as you can in this clip. Talent and stage presence? The guy was the definition of it (and this clip is before TMV’s time…He just loves entertainment and showmen and studies the greats).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.