In 1998, the year I turned thirteen, I saw this commercial:

Screw the Gap and their khakis.  I needed to know what that song was, and what ’swing’ was.  So I asked my dad, who of course knows everything.  And he handed me this CD:

Although it’s hard to choose just a few highlights, as every single song is a highlight, the Just A Gigolo/ I Ain’t Got Nobody medley, Jump, Jive An’ Wail, There’ll Be No Next Time, and Oh, Marie are certainly songs you just can’t go wrong with.  I used to listen to this album while I worked  out.  It got me so pumped on life.  I wanted to single-handedly start a revival of swing just so I could listen to music like this all the time.  I don’t think I realized there already was a revival, but… you know.

The same year, the Brian Setzer Orchestra released an album that had their version of Jump, Jive An’ Wail on it, and although I don’t remember if it was the summer of ‘98 or ‘99 that it made on to the radio, I remember being pissed.  Everyone thought it was so cool, and I was the smug little pre-teen reminding everyone that it was a cover and the original was way better.  Thirteen year olds can be obnoxious.  But I was right.

A few months into my freshman year of college, I found myself sitting in a classmates living room talking about music, particularly jazz.  My classmate was a trumpeter.  He listed a bunch of musicians he loved, and asked me who I liked.  When I named Louis Prima, he got a look on his face like he was embarrassed for me.  “Well, he’s not really jazz.  He’s not, like, a real musician.  He played pop stuff, mostly.”

I have to admit that I felt embarrassed at the time, but also perplexed.  How could anyone not like Louis Prima’s music, and why was he letting the definition of jazz get in the way?  Yes, Louis Prima was very commercial.  Yes, it was pop.  So?  Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, etc. were all pop musicians and singers, and if he had told me he didn’t like Bing Crosby I probably would have smashed his trumpet or something.

Well, regardless of how my classmates felt, Louis Prima has always held a key place in my heart.  Today David Lee Roth’s rendition of Just A Gigolo/ I Ain’t Got Nobody played twice on the radio, and as usual my blood boiled.  The man didn’t change a single note in Sam Butera’s (Louis’ partner) arrangement!  Not a note!  And word has it (from Dad, of course) that he didn’t pay him for it, either.

(By the way, I do think it’s worth mentioning that Louis Prima is just one example of many times that my Dad guided an interest in music of mine in the right direction.  Without him, I would surely have had much worse taste in music.)

Here’s a fun clip of Louis Prima with his wife, Keely Smith, on the Ed Sullivan Show.  She’s surprisingly animated in this clip.  My favorites are the ones where she stands still and glares.