Las Vegas Prima Style - Louis Prima

Greenback Dollar Bill

Las Vegas Prima Style
Louis Prima
Keely Smith
With Same Butera and The Witnesses
Recorded Live At The Sahara Hotel
Capitol Records T1010
1958

The Witnesses:
Sam Butera Tenor Saxophone
Harvey Lang, Drums
Lou Sineaux, Trombone
Bob Roberts, Guitar
Tony Liuizza, Bass
Willy McCumber, Piano

From the back cover: It's past midnight in Las Vegas, the town without a watch. Neon lights hoot and holler, point and promise in the desert air, loud with the crash of silver dollars, alive with a thousand spinning wheels.

At 12:30, in the Hotel Sahara, trumpeter-vocalist Louis Prima issues the call that summons the faithful. The crowd gathers – celebrities from Hollywood, travelers from Des Moines and New Orleans, winners, losers. Soon the tables in the Casbar Theater are filled beyond capacity.

From now until six in the morning, Las Vegas belongs to Louis Prima.

It's been this way ever since Vegas met Prima some four years ago. For Louis is the one entertainer who's overwhelmed this fantastic town on its own terms. His wild, uninhibited singing and trumpeting of jazz classics like Honeysuckle Rose and such favorites as Tiger Rag, along with the rocking sounds of saxophonist Sam Butera and the Witnesses and the smoky, expressive voice of Keely Smith, cause wheels to stop spinning, break up card games and empty tables all over town.

This album, recorded at just such a performance in the Casbar Theater, beards "The Wildest" in his frantic den. It's full and brimming with the life and laughter, the electricity that is "Las Vegas – Prima Style."

Them There Eyes and Honey Suckle Rose
Tiger Rag
Embraceable Your and I Got It Bad
Should and I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
White Cliffs Of Dover
Holiday For Strings
Greenback Dollar Bill
Love Of My Life (O Sole Mio)
Too Marvelous For Words