Person
Louis Prima
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Louis Leo Prima was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres thro…
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Louis Leo Prima was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. 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 frequently as a Vegas lounge act beginning in the 1950s. From the 1940s through the 1960s, his music further encompassed early R&B and rock 'n' roll, boogie-woogie, and Italian folk music, such as the tarantella. Prima made prominent use of Italian music and language in his songs, blending elements of his Italian and Sicilian identity with jazz and swing music. At a time when ethnic musicians were discouraged from openly stressing their ethnicity, Prima's conspicuous embrace of his Sicilian ethnicity opened the doors for other Italian-American and ethnic American musicians to display their ethnic roots. Prima is also known for providing the voice for the orangutan King Louie in the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book. Description above from the Wikipedia article Louis Prima, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2010
Louis Prima: In Person!
Movie
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2006
Legends
TV show Self (archive footage)
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1999
Louis Prima: The Wildest!
Movie Self
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1984
DTV: Golden Oldies
Movie Self
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1975
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
Movie Himself
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1967
The Jungle Book
Movie King Louie of the Apes (voice)
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1963
Playgirls International
Movie Himself
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1963
Sackgasse
Movie Original Music Composer
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1961
The Continental Twist
Movie Louis Evans
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1961
The Mike Douglas Show
TV show Self
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1959
Hey Boy! Hey Girl!
Movie Himself
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1958
Senior Prom
Movie Himself
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1956
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV show Self
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1956
Jazz Ball
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1950
The Colgate Comedy Hour
TV show Self
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1948
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV show Self
More credits
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1939
Rose of Washington Square
Movie Band Leader
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1938
Swing Cat's Jamboree
Movie Himself
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1938
Start Cheering
Movie Band Conductor
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1937
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
Movie Self
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1937
The Star Reporter in Hollywood
Movie Louis Prima
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1937
You Can't Have Everything
Movie Orchestra Leader
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1936
Rhythm on the Range
Movie Trumpet Player
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1936
Swing It
Movie Louis Prima - Band Leader
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1936
The Champ's a Chump
Movie Band Leader Louis
