Louis Prima

Louis Prima (né Louis Leo Prima; 7 December 1910 – 24 August 1978) was an Italian-American singer, actor, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. 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 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 rocknroll, 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, Primas conspicuous embrace of his Italian ethnicity opened the doors for other Italian-American and ethnic American musicians to display their ethnic roots.

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