Return of the Wildest
Louis Prima Jr. has a larger-than-life legacy to live up to, but after the first notes of “Oh Babe,” the Prima Sr. track that opens this album, comes blasting out of the speakers, you’ll have no doubt that he’s up to the task. Louis Jr. has assembled a new band of Witnesses including vocalist Sarah Spiegel, and they add a razor-sharp rock & roll edge to the to ten of the tunes his dad made famous. “Bei Mir Bist du Schön,” a duet with Spiegel, follows the aforementioned “Oh Babe.” Wisely, Spiegel doesn’t try to outsing Keely Smith, but settles on a mischievous delivery that’s all her own. Later on, her lead on “A Sunday Kind of Love” displays a simmering, low-key soul halfway between Vegas and a Detroit street corner. Louis Jr. is a powerful vocalist himself, exhibiting the same kind of irrepressible energy that made his dad such a formidable performer. The band rips through classics like “Las Vegas Woman,” “Night Train,” and “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” with an energy that would make his dad proud. Louis Jr. may not be the new King of Swing yet, but this album cements his place as a Crown Prince. This CD with blow the roof off of any party once you hit play and turn up the volume.