Customer Reviews
Essential collection, beautifull package - By: Charlie, 21 Sep 2007 
This 2cd release has essential Louis materialin superb sound & contains nice booklet & even some rarities & is probably 'best buy' for his 'Capitol' days. All his famous songs are here, except 'I wanna be like you' from MGM 'Jungle Book'.
Highly recommended for begginer or casual fan!
Excellent fun music which will get the toes tapping - By: , 24 May 2002 I bought this CD after looking closely at the credits following the film The Talented Mr Ripley with Matt Damon. I thought the musicin the film was so good I wanted to know who it was by, & so I discovered Louis Prima!
I love the way the music is not taken too seriously but at the same time it is delivered professionally to delight the listener. If the artist is having fun you can bet the listener will enjoy & there is no doubt Louis & his friends must have had fun on all these tracks.
Fantastic set to complete or start a Louis Prima collection - By: , 18 Nov 1999 I was looking for a good CD collection of Louis Prima & Keely Smith to replace all the gorgeous old vinyl albums I had - this is it! Part of Capitol's "Wild, Cool & Swingin'" CD series, it features 2 CDs packed with all of Prima's best - from the better-known hits like "Jump, Jive & Wail" "Just A Gigolo" "Oh Marie" & "That Old Black Magic" to glorious gems like "Three-Handed Woman" & "John Ping-Pong." The smooth-as-satin Keely Smith is ably represented as well, on sultry swingers like "Autumn Leaves" "The Lip" & "Embraceable You." And the inclusion of many of Louis's Italian novelty songs is worth the price of the CD alone!
Most of these tracks are live, recorded during Prima & Smith's "Wildest Showin Vegas" days during the early '50s at the Sahara Hotel's Casbar Louge. Which is perfect, because Louis & Keely are at their best as they scat & clown their way through the tunes, with ample energy & feedbck from the audience.
Not to be missed is Sam Butera's wild sax, punctuating the songs like another set of vocals. Butera himself sings a few tracks, most notably on "Greenback Dollar Bill," with the Witnesses happily hootingin the background.
The sound quality on this CD is fabulous, & the excellent liner notes by R.J. Smith really set the context of the CD as it relates to Louis & his passionate, unique approach to jazz.
But most of all, this CD swings, rocks & rolls. I first heard Louis & Keely as a child, my Italian-American father a huge fan who saw them many times during their Vegas & Tahoe years. Their records were on constant play around our house, punctuating everything from Sunday morning breakfast to Friday evening summer barbecues. If you haven't already checked out the catalogue of Prima's work, this CD is a great place to start. If you're completelyin love with this Neapolitan-by-way-of-New-Orleans swinger, this CD will only add more cheese to your ravioli!
