What
Louis Prima accomplished musically in the company of
Sam Butera and the
Witnesses and vocalist
Keely Smith is in hard evidence on this excellent 26-track compilation. All the classics are aboard with excellent liner notes from Scott Shea and crisp transfers of the original masters ("Angelina-Zooma Zooma," "That Old Black Magic," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Buona Sera" -- which includes a great snippet of studio chatter kicking it off -- "Oh Marie," and the obligatory "Just a Gigolo-I Ain't Got Nobody"). Although this duplicates several tracks with Rhino's
Zooma! Zooma! compilation, with the addition of several singles and unissued tracks, this stands as the best single-disc collection available of
Prima's tenure with Capitol Records. The perfect place to start your
Louis Prima collection.
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Cub Koda, Rovi