The Wildest!

Jazz standards by monkey guy from jungle book

Just a rip roarin good time. I want whatever drugs Louis is having.

Any album containing a song played by Marvin Berry and the Starlighters for the Enchantment Under the Sea dance is good enough for me! In a word though, this album is "joyous", end-to-end. It lands like a band of musicians who really are have a great time playing together and a band leader that is both putting on the act for the crowd and having fun goofing for the band itself. Even songs with titles like "(I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You" lands like playful teasing between friends. I'll definitely be coming back to this album again and again. Worth every star. Interesting aside, this is the first album where I noticed the wikipedia page pointed to the book that appears to be the source material for this site's list. Spoiler alert.

there’s only so much scatting one girl can take

I will not tell you how many songs in I was when I realized that Louis Prima voiced the orangutan king in The Jungle Book (facepalm). But this is my kind of cooking music! I particularly like the vocal quality of the female singer (Keely Smith I’m guessing?) and the harmony sections. Remarkable how many of these songs start with nearly the exact same walking bass line from the piano, just in different keys (listen to the first few seconds of #1, #3 and #6). There was an Italian grocery store down the street from our last apartment in Long Island and this is very much the type of music they played, so it was a nostalgic listen. Final thought - did “gigolo” mean something different in 1956?

It was unfair to take this photo while the man was yawning. Having said that, he has good top teeth. The bottom teeth are either missing or hidden.

I bet you this would've been super fun to see live. New Orleans truly has a fantastic music scene, and Mr. Prima must've been the absolute king. Love the sense of humor and the lively brass. Favorite tracks: "Buono Sera", "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead", "Jump Jive an' Wail"

Quite enjoyable from King Louis

Funny, energetic recording of Prima's legendary live show. It's loose and irreverent, uptempo and hilarious. Prima takes liberties with his own material and jazz standards to create a raucous big band experience that leans towards the coming RnB.

Love it, makes me want to dance. The oldest one yet and the funniest one probably

This is wild alright! Also rich and engaging, I just ordered the vinyl.

I like this way more than I expected. It sounds like people having a great time. The harmony in the brass and vocals is really satisfying, and their voices are really cool individually.

[Exterior: Brooklyn, New York. Summer 1961. We fade into a street level view of a working class neighborhood, a block of Brownstone, 3 story walkups. Boys clad in white t-shirts and slacks play stickball in the middle of the street. Girls skip rope on the sidewalk. In the distance, a fire hydrant has been uncapped, spraying water into the street for children splash around in: a welcome reprieve on an unrelentingly hot August day. The camera pans from street level and slowly zooms in on a window on the third floor of one of the Brownstones] [Interior: Third floor apartment living room with adjoining kitchen - A man, mid 40’s, wearing a ratty sleeveless undershirt sits in an armchair, listening to a record play on his console stereo. He is smoking a cigarette and reading the newspaper. A small silver metallic fan stationed on a nearby end table oscillates slowly, providing the slightest bit of relief from the punishing heat. His wife, Marie, is in the kitchen making a jello mold with the fruit she picked up at the market earlier in the day. The man taps his foot to the record…eventually his eyes light up, struck by an idea.] The man says to his wife: “Oh, Marie! Why didn’t you tell me there was going to be some porno jazz on this 1001 albums list?!? This is fantastic! I tell you what…you call the Lombardi’s, you tell them to get their asses over here at 7pm for dinner. They gotta hear this fuckin’ record…unbelievable! I’m gonna head down to the butcher, get some braciole, some gabagool…it’s gonna be a party!” [end scene]

I bet Louis Prima and David Lee Roth would have been fast friends. After listening to this album, I have a sneaky suspicion that Diamond Dave patterned his entire lead singer persona on Prima. We should have known this when one of the first things Roth did after leaving Van Halen was to cover "Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody". You can totally picture Roth singing a lot of these lyrics scored to Eddie Van Halen's manic guitars and Michael Anthony providing the background vocals instead of Keely Smith. And I'm also guessing Diamond Dave's lifetime dream would be to voice an orangutan in a Disney movie. Similar to most things involving Roth, this thing is a freaking party. I love an album cover that tells you everything it's all about. Look no further to hear why Louis Prima was called The King Of Swing. What an absolute joy.

eifach orang-utan moment ich lieb d rueh aber au lebensfreud wommer iwie us de musig ghört s albumcover passt au seeehr guet ich lieb wenner iwie nonsense singt BANANA SPLIT FOR MY BABYYYYY fuck es macht so spass hahahah aso geg de schluss hani chli abghenkt aber so es klars 4i

I'm a big fan of this particular brand of swing music, where it's got this energy and gibberish and craziness to the lyrics. It feels like a party to me, and it connects with me a lot more than straight Jazz.

I actually enjoyed this more then I expected - but a whole album of trumpet-y swing is a bit much for me

God the 50s are fucking dreadful.

This was bloody awful. It was like listening to a whole album of Joe Dolce. I prefer Dave Lee Roth's version of Just a Giglio - and that's saying something. The only relief was when the instrumentals silenced the 'humour'.

Great 50's party music. The band is red hot and the lyrics are quite amusing. Hard to be depressed while listening to this stuff!

Great harmonies and great horns. It’s impressive that he could take one song that was 25 years old and another that was 40 and make them modern hits (that others have covered as recently as ‘17). This had me smiling and swinging, from start to finish. Keely Smith has great vocals in front and in harmony.

I feel like you would have to hate music/fun not to enjoy this.

Love hearing him tell his band to let it rip on their solos - SING UP. The call and response songs are great too, especially the Lip. Some of them are funny as well - Glad When You're Dead and the twist at the end of Banana Split is hilarious.

Pure fun! This is such a joyful album. I love Louis's voice and the playful way he engages the other contributors. Everything about this evokes carefree, don't take life too seriously fun vibes. I like it a lot!

Super fun and energetic! Great mix of traditional songs, comedy songs, and instrumentals. Holds up really well -especially with so much comedic content - for being from the 50s. Just jazzy enough without being overbearing and a great example of (mostly) using scat and ad libs without being annoying or overtaking the song. Several great tracks but Banana Split is a delight!

This is great party music. I'd heard David Lee Roth's cover of "Just a Jigalo", and I much prefer Louis Prima's version. But it's so cool to hear where that came from.

Oh wow, this is amazing! Such a fun album. So glad this came up and I was able to listen to it and to fall in love with it.

What a blast! Some good blues and jazz by the guy that voiced King Louie in Disney's Jungle Book? Sign me up! Starts out with Just A Gigolo, just an absolute fun time. For My Baby and Basin Street Blues were still good, and those were the weakest songs. The Lip, Oh Marie, and Buona Sera are just amazing. Body And Soul is an instrumental, normally I rate those a bit lower, but this was just incredible. Great trumpet music. And then there's the classic, Jump Jive An' Wail, always a great listen. Ending up on the funny You Rascal You. Normally I just listen to the album as it was released, but I ended up listening to the extended version of this one. All the songs are 3s and 4s, but overall the album is better than the sum of its parts. Such fun, I had a smile on my face the whole way through. Loved it! Best song: Just A Gigolo

My Dad LOVED Louis Prima and would play him w/ Keely Smith all the time. I think he imagined he and my Mom as a version of them. So I can't listen to this objectively, and it was great to hear him again, especially "The Lip" which I always loved. Here's to you, Dad!

So this site tells you what your favorite genres and artists and decades are after rating enough albums, and for the bulk of me doing it it's been telling me my favorite decade for music is the '50s? Which is funny because I listen to like, no music from the '50s. But I think it's because the sample size of '50s albums is much smaller, and all of the albums I've heard from this from the '50s so far have just been a lot of fun and perfectly pleasant and haven't been as strongly love or hate as the rest. So I guess my favorite decade will remain the '50s because this was so much fun. This is just really enjoyable and dancey swing music with some jazz and 12 bar blues thrown in too. This was fun!!

Oh this is a lot of fun. A lot of joy. It's a gem..5 stars.

This album has a song where the singer wishes death upon a friend who ate too many meatballs.

This album was so fun!!! I loved it from start to finish. Some of the lyrics even made me laugh out loud. The only way it could have been better is if I knew all the words by heart so I could have sung along.

The warmest, the strongest, the wildest! Fuuuck just a gigolo isch jo mol crazy guet. Gad zwei mol glost. For you I'd learn how to bake a pie, okee da isch scho no cute. I find amel chli schwierig wenn lüüt seged bring back the good times. Aber wenn hesch s letscht mol e pärli ghört zweistimmig scatte Uiii noone plays high notes like the lip! Wieso isch de song so funny? Nocher die nöchste paar sind meh chli standart songs. Sehr guet aber nöd meega bsunders. Uultra solids album und eifach en vibe wod nüm so ghörsch, dases so funny druf sind. Ussert in punk und so.

Całkiem zajebisty stary jazz.

i really liked this one! it's a good new orleans swing record. really fun and energetic. you can tell it would have been a great party record in the 1950s. louis' energy here is infectious and the entire band follows suit. some songs are sung by keely smith, who also does a good job but i feel like her solo songs are the more ballady, less fun songs. regardless, the album is a really joyful listen.

Overall fun

I love it!

kezdem nagyon nem szeretni ezt az öt csillagot, mert óriási menőség ez, rebellis meg hangos meg vicces, csak nem szerettem bele olyan olthatatlanul, hogy ötöst adjak. 😬

This is quirky. Jump, Jive, An'Wail is a rock solid rock steady standard. You Rascal You is also very fun.

Swingin’ jazz and blues that’s fun and full of energy. So many songs just erupt into a nebula of exuberant raucousness. Lead playing is very lyrical. Just a pleasant listen overall - it’s hard to imagine someone completely disliking it. That said, I’m not sure if this is something I’ll revisit or eventually forget about.

Makes me want to drink whiskey and smoke cigarettes

3 known tracks just a gigolo/I ain't got nobody, jump jive an wail and night train (enchantment under the sea dance ha!) . A fun album. Swing, big band and jazz influences.

A good jazz album. Pretty solid listening.

Music was fun enough to gloss over the occasional sexist or misogynistic lyrics that were endemic to the time period.

Lots of fun. 3.5* rounding up to 4.

Absolute primo dancing in the kitchen drink red wine album. Let also take a moment to appreciate the line, “when you’re dead and in your grave no more ravioli will you crave”

Amazing mood lifter! Grab your sweetheart and the gang for a swinging good time

Cool album Lots of twists and turns and mix of jazz rock n roll and blues

Fun swing/ragtime

Oh man. Louis Prima was lowkey a terrible human, but the energy of his big band is just fantastic. Keely has an awesome voice and Sam Butera is the perfect foil to his big personality.

Well this was quite a rollicking fun time. Trumpets, singing, happy vibes.

just a gigolo i aint got a nobody- a mashup im told. bouncy and charismatic, love the instrumental breaks with the brass where it seems like he gets so into the song he has to step off the stage to dance with the crowd. the lip- i cant tell if one line is racist but good storytelling. yip yip yip. basin street blues- FUCKS HARD love when he acts so drunk he cant get words out right you rascal you- fallout!!!

The Wildest! sent me into a reverie about the peculiar power held by recordings of party music made by and for the now-dead. This has the hoodlum energy of “Rumble” and would sit easily in a film like “Touch of Evil”, exuberant, suggestive, made for dancing, built from old structures, old instruments, edgy material in the day: the biker gang would move to this, Mexican Heston certainly not. Reckon Fatsuit Welles would side with the kids on this one. I think I’ll join him. (Most of those kids are gone now.)

My favorite things about this sound, is that it is exemplified by very physical verbs. Swing. Jump. Jive. Wail. Very true to how this makes you feel.

4.2 - Alright, alright, alright, alright! A swinging, bopping blend of big brass jazz and rock-n-roll. Stylish, energetic and fun. Not a stale doo-wop record, this one really pops.

Great mix of jazz, R&B, swing, and early rock and roll. This album is high energy until the very end. I have heard of Louis Prima before, but I'm glad to have become more familiar with his music. This album would have been very influential at this particular musical crossroads. Prima's embrace of the burgeoning rock and roll genre is a testament to his flexibility and openness.

Louis Prima uses his vocal command to weave a catchy record with an easy beat. It seems that this record begins to bridge the dinner club / big band era toward the next stage of being a jazz singer.

This is the good thing about this. Never in a million years would I have listened to a Louis Prima album! Good fun.

What can I say other than it's snappy, energetic and makes you want to dance. Love Louis and his collaborations with Keely Smith and Sam Butera. No one plays high knows like The Lip. (yip yip yip yip)

This was a surprisingly fun record. I did not expect to enjoy this album NEARLY as much as I did. It felt like the soundtrack to an old black & white film or a modern Pixar movie - in all the best ways. There's so much life and joy and energy here. It's just a blast. That said, it's definitely a particular vibe and I'm not usually in the mood for something likt that. But I'm making a note of this one to come back to when I AM in the mood because, when you want it, it comes in hot.

Just tryna test out the editing

Yeah ok better than I thought it would be

Of its time. Catchy lyrics and melodies. Some songs covered decades after this original release. Defintely a vibe. Louis Prima had a really nice singing voice.

The Wildest! This isn’t at all wild, but it’s very enjoyable in an Elf/LA Confidential/When Harry Met Sally soundtrack way. It’s a very easy listen with a nice sense of fun and playfulness, the New Orleans swing really gives it some movement and life. The horns aren’t overbearing as they often can be and I really like the combination of his and Keely Smith’s vocals, his growling jumpy exuberance and her chatty jazzy style have a nice carefree feel together. In the right mood I’d definitely listen again, but it probably won’t go into heavy rotation, making it a solidly enjoyable 3. 🦧🦧🦧 Playlist submission: (Nothing’s Too Good For My Baby)

Klassiker!

For the time it was a well respected album and very unique voice. Still pretty alright

норм

The only great thing David Lee Roth did in his solo career was to introduce a new generation to "Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody". It's such a classic song, fun and bouncy. In 1956, a nearly 5 minute song was an opus like "Stairway To Heaven" was so many years later. "Jump, Jive, An' Wail" was a hit for Brian Setzer in the 90's. This is my first foray into a Louis P album, I know the name but not the catalog outside of the lead track. The horns are fun as hell, what a party his shows must have been back in the day. It felt like a live recording. Horn heavy and leaning hard on his female singing partner, Keely Smith, this is an enjoyable album with no tracks I felt I needed to fast forward over. A lot of it sounded very similar. Not sure what this album did to make the Top 1001 since I don't hear a long term impact on music, but maybe it changed music in the 1950's. With three big hits, including "Buona Sera", it has credibility for the time as it must have been huge back then. He's got a good voice, my fav track was "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead...". 3 solid stars for master hornsmanship, a frolicking beat and good energy.

As a teen of the 80s, I became familiar with medley of Just A Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody thanks to a (pales in comparison) cover by David Lee Roth. I had heard this version, and some of his other music, in movies over the years. The album is a collection of jazz/blues numbers (some familiar classics, some new to me) played with a swagger, instances of fun silliness, great call and response vocals/instrumentation, all wrapped around Prima's frenetic trumpet playing. If I were to imagine a 50s / early 60s party album, the Wildest would be it - a fun and up-tempo album that makes you want to dance, laugh and have a good time.

It was very humorous; I enjoyed myself!

Background music, nothing special

słuchało się lepszych albumów z tego okresu

This isn't for me. It's harmless enough, though ridiculously repetitive, but that borders on the annoying. I would never choose to listen to this, but I wouldn't complain too much if it were on in the background in a shop or elevator.

Energetic swing-jazz belters. Sounds like kid's party music in places, just drivel and/or terrible lyrics. Louis Jordan with a lobotomy. Again, you can see why rock'n'roll was so exciting in the late 50's by contrast.

Niet helemaal mijn stijl, beetje meh

Buen rollo

Fantastic loved every song

Love the variety of songs and real soul in the music!

Brassy and beautiful…deep purplish red serotonin in a crystal glass that you can dip the good bread in

Fantastic album! Had me bopping along the whole way!

Absolutely blown away, you can tell they had a great time performing it and I certainly had a fantastic time listening.

Even haven't heared his name before. But it was fun and engaging. Even so much fun at the begining, I couldn't take an idea what it is and what's happening. This is good.

Excellent, all of it

Loved this album! So fun, and the trombomist is amazing. 5 stars!!

He really embodies that NOLA vibe … could imagine hearing him live when he was in his prime would’ve been amazing. He was the first big name to have a residency in Vegas in the 50’s. He’s one of the greats for sure 👍🏼

# In-Depth Review: *The Wildest!* – Louis Prima (1956) > “It’s hard to be depressed while listening to this stuff!” > — pretty much every listener since 1956 --- ## 1. Lyrics – Vaudeville Meets the Atomic Age Prima’s pen is equal parts nightclub comic, street-corner storyteller and Italian-American wise-guy. - **Self-deprecating swagger**: “Just a Gigolo” paints the singer as a discarded play-thing (“…and when I die don’t cry for me, for I’m the guy that’s got to be free”) yet the punch-line is delivered with a grin, not a sob. - **Macabre slap-stick**: “Glad When You’re Dead” turns a jealousy trope into a cartoon funeral (“When you’re six feet underground—no more ravioli will you crave!”). - **Call-and-response nonsense**: “The Lip” invents its own scat language (“yip-yip-yip-yip”) that doubles as horn-section cue; the joke is the song itself. - **Gender politics**: 1950s misogyny peeks through (“You Rascal You”, “Buona Sera”); modern ears hear it, 1956 ears heard flirtation. **Verdict**: Lyrics are disposable on paper, indispensable in performance—every syllable is timing, not text. --- ## 2. Music – The First Ska-Punk Big-Band? Arranger/bandleader Sam Butera treats the Witnesses like a hot-rod engine: - **Tempo**: Most cuts sit at 180-220 BPM; even the blues (“Basin Street”) is a double-time shuffle. - **Form**: 12-bar blues, 32-bar AABA and New Orleans second-line grooves slammed together—verse becomes chorus becomes trumpet break without warning. - **Texture**: Five-man horn section, baritone sax doubling sousaphone lines, Prima’s trumpet squealing above like a taxi horn. - **Vocal interplay**: Keely Smith’s dead-pan, on-the-beat delivery is the straight man to Prima’s rubber-faced ad-libs; the tension creates the swing feel. **Result**: Jump-blues, Dixieland, early rock-’n’-roll and Vegas lounge are soldered into one continuous 27-minute party. --- ## 3. Production – Captured Chaos Recorded 10–11 April 1956 at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, on the then-new 3-track tape: - **Mic placement**: One overhead ribbon on the horn section, one dynamic on Prima, one on the rhythm trio—minimal overdubs. - **Live feel**: You can hear Prima shout “Let it rip, boys!” as Butera’s tenor solo starts; audience screams were later added to simulate the Sahara Lounge. - **Stereo debut**: 1958 Capitol re-issue is among the earliest fake-stereo “duophonic” records; the 1987 CD remaster restores the original mono punch. **Sound signature**: Close, almost claustrophobic, giving the record its “barrel-house in a phone-booth” energy. --- ## 4. Themes – Death, Pasta & the Eternal Bachelor Beneath the gags runs a coherent post-war fantasy: - **Permanence of fun**: Even death is just another punch-line. - **Italian-American identity**: Food, Catholic guilt and family are turned into comic ammunition. - **Urban nightlife**: The album is a 3 a.m. cartoon of neon, cigars and taxi horns. In short, *The Wildest!* soundtracks the moment when WWII vets traded uniforms for shark-skin suits and decided the party should never end. --- ## 5. Influence – From Van Halen to Pixar - **David Lee Roth** copied Prima’s scat cadences note-for-note in his 1985 hit remake of “Just a Gigolo / I Ain’t Got Nobody”. - **Brian Setzer** cites the record as the template for the Stray Cats’ horn-driven rockabilly. - **Disney** licensed “I Wanna Be Like You” (Jungle Book, 1967) after Walt heard Prima’s manic persona here. - **Neo-swing revival** of the late-’90s (Royal Crown Revue, Squirrel Nut Zippers) lifts both tempo and stage shtick. **Academic footnote**: Musicologists often mark *The Wildest!* as the hinge between big-band swing and small-combo rock-’n’-roll showmanship. --- ## Pros & Cons | Pros | Cons | |------|------| | Infectious, high-octane performances—“a nebula of exuberant raucousness” | Dated gender attitudes on several tracks | | Tight, telepathic band interplay; Sam Butera’s sax deserves its own billing | Running time under 30 min—over before you’ve refilled your drink | | Prima/Smith vocal dynamic is comedy gold | Horn-heavy mix can feel relentless; no ballad breathing room | | Historically pivotal: bridges swing, R&B and early rock | Lyrics are mostly novelty; little emotional depth beyond “let’s party” | | Still works as a modern mood-lifter—“you’d have to hate fun not to enjoy this” | Some listeners find the shtick repetitive or even “bloody awful” | --- ## Bottom Line *The Wildest!* is not profound, but it is **necessary**—the moment when American pop learned that speed, humor and ethnic swagger could coexist in one adrenalized package. Drop the needle on any track and you’re instantly teleported to a smoky lounge where the meatballs are bottomless and tomorrow never comes.

Listens: 3 or 4 Standout Tracks: The Lip, (I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You, Banana Split For My Baby Yea, this was awesome. Plain and simple. The music, the lyrics, the presentation. The album doesn't take itself too seriously; No, actually, it doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's just clean fun. I mean, how do you even reckon with the glorious "(I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You"? Is Louis singing about a friend? A coworker? A frenemy? A literal dog that tries to steal all his meatballs!? How about the way Banana Split For My Baby slowly unfolds where you come to realize he's not treating his girl to a nice ice cream sundae, but rather he's poor as fuck and asks the waiter to bring two separate checks - she can pay for her own damn ice cream, he just got his glass of water. LOL. This album is GOLD.

This is super fun!

He is sublime - a sound from an earlier and better world before music became processed cheese. So absolutely on top of his voice and his instrument, so inventive, so funny. ‘Just a Gigolo’ should be as famous as the ‘Ode to Joy’ and is better to dance to.

Joyous!

Delightful

Oh, fuck yeah. You just know you’re in for fun from the first notes. It’s another artist and record that is such a perfect example of what it is that it can only be a 5. Swing and jump blues, who can deny it? I guess the 50s aren’t going to be knocked from their Generator throne for me as my “favorite” decade any time soon.

let's go all the way back to the '50s with some big band swing music with a real sense of humor. i love music that puts a smile on your face when you turn it on. the way louis goes feral with his weird trademark zoobly-doobly-bop-bop-bop scatting style is amazing. this album does a good job at keeping a lot of listeners engaged with its playful instrumentation and occasional banter... it would be a great swingin' party album i feel like.

So much fun! One of those albums where you wish you were in the room when they recorded it

Louis was great. You need to hear a greatest hits to be properly introduced. 5 but only because he was a master of the form.

Just wild. I loved it as a kid, and my kids loved too. Louis is the king, Voyle Gilmore does a fantastic job capturing the essence of Louis and Keely and the band live. You'd be dead not to get this, so cool. I'm going to indulge myself for a sec: when the boys were watching the Jungle Book, my youngest turned to me during the I Want to be Like You and said King Louie is Louis Prima! Said it all. What a record!

As a young man, my musical diet was largely characterised by anxiety, anger and depression. I eventually decided that I needed some more positive vibes in my life and that should include my listening habits. Two of the best examples of my new choices were bought on the same day; a Rhino compilation of uptempo doo wop and a best of Louis Prima. I spun those CDs a lot, and truth be told, the _were_ a lot more fun than my usual musical taste and contributed to a general uplift in mood. Tracks from The Wildest! were well represented on that best compilation, so I am pretty familiar with this record. It is a funny, energetic recording of Prima's legendary live show. It's loose and irreverent, uptempo and hilarious. Prima takes liberties with his own material and jazz standards to create a raucous big band experience that foreshadows the coming RnB. This album is heaps of fun. Five stars

Wow! Vilket sväng, vilket uttryck och vilka jäkla trumpetsolon! 5 poäng från mig. Kan knappt tänka mig ett bättre album att måla tak till. Pappa tycker att det är härlig glad dansmusik. ”Man önskar att man kunde bebopa eller vaheterde bugga eller vaheterde”

POW! wow i feel good listening to this