A NEW ORLEANS ORIGINAL
Louis Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was
an singer, actor, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter.
While rooted in New
Orleans Jazz, Swing and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout
his career: he formed a seven-piece New Orleans-style jazz band the late
1920s, fronted a swing combo in the 1930s and a big band in the 1940s, helped
to popularize jump blues in the late 1940s and early to mid 1950s and
performed as a Vegas lounge act in the late 1950s and 1960s.
From the 1940s through the 1960s, his music further
encompassed early R&B and rock ‘n’ roll, boogie-woogie and even
Italian folk music such as the tarantella.
Prima made prominent use of Italian
music and language in his songs, blending elements of his Italian
identity with jazz and swing music.
At a time when "ethnic" musicians
were often discouraged from openly stressing their ethnicity, Prima's
conspicuous embrace of his Italian ethnicity opened the doors for other
Italian-American and "ethnic" American musicians to display their
ethnic roots. -- Wiki
No comments:
Post a Comment