Prima collection prime last-minute gift

Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002 | 8:09 a.m.

For those last-minute shoppers who know fans of the legendary Louis Prima, a set of eight recently released CDs recorded between 1963 and 1975 would make an excellent gift.

During that 12-year period Prima recorded on his own label, Prima Magnagroove Records.

The CDs are available through Tower Records, according to Louis Prima's widow, Gia, who spent three years creating the collection. Each CD costs about $13, she said.

Prima died in 1978, three years after lapsing into a coma while being operated on for a brain tumor in Los Angeles.

"Historically, this is a great collection," Gia Prima said during a telephone interview from her home in Island Heights, N.J. "People think he stopped recording in '62, but he didn't."

The albums made from 1963 on were sold at his performances rather than through widespread distribution. He produced them at his recording studio on Warm Springs Road.

The eight CDs include "The King of Clubs," "Prima Show in the Casbar," "Just a Gigolo," "The golden Hits of Louis Prima," "The Prima Generation '72," "The New Sounds of the Louis Prima Show," "The Wildest '75" and "Angelina."

A bonus CD by Gia Prima is included in "Just a Gigolo."

"Putting together the CDs was a labor of love," said Gia, who left Las Vegas in 1984 and returned to her native New Jersey.

"We put every one of his songs out on his label, which we sold at his appearances at the Sahara, or the Sands or the Tropicana -- wherever he performed."

She said the CD "The Prima Show in the Casbar" has not been available since 1963.

"It's all new material," Gia said. "It's really great stuff."

She says Prima never lost his audiences.

"The whole year of '75, until he went in for surgery, was just wonderful," Gia said. "He re-opened the Blue Room at the Tropicana. He was going to put Las Vegas back the way used to be."

After he became comatose in Los Angeles, he was transferred to New Orleans, where he eventually died.

"For a man who had so much life and gave so much happiness, to be shut off in this manner was tragic," Gia said. "He was actually in a semi-coma. If the phone rang, his eyes moved to the phone but he could not respond. It was three years of torture."

The CDs are a way to remind fans of Prima's musical legacy.

"This is the largest CD release of Prima material ever in this country," Ron Cannatella said from his home in Destrehan, La.

Cannatella is a spokesman for Gia Prima and was a consultant on a Prima documentary film released in 1999.

"My grandfather knew Louis Prima and Leon (Louis' brother) back in the French Quarter days in New Orleans," Cannatella said.

Cannatella noted that the album "Angelina" was dedicated to Prima's mother.

"Many people don't realize that 'Angelina' was the only full-Italian album he made," Cannatella said. "On it is the song 'Che La Luna,' which has become a mainstay at Italian weddings."

Cannatella said Gia chose the recordings with great care.

"The one thing Gia made sure of was to lovingly preserve the original concept of the albums, including the artwork on the front and back covers," he said. "Everything is intact. Everything was restore to their original form."

Prima, who took Vegas by storm in 1954, was married to Keely Smith during the early years of his heyday. The couple split in 1961 and two years later Prima married Gia Maione, who had replaced Smith onstage. The music by the king of Las Vegas lounges continues to be popular around the world. Many albums have been released over the years by record companies in Great Britain, Germany and other nations.

"I had been encouraging Gia for a long time to release the CDs because I knew there was still such a great interest in the music," Cannatella said. "These CDs are some of the most important recordings in his career."

Prima's music often is heard in movies and commercials.

"Whenever a Robert DeNiro film comes out with a Prima song in it, such as 'Analyze This,' there is a demand for the music," Cannatella said.

There are a number of interesting trivia elements to the albums.

"In '73, 'Just a Gigolo' marked the last Louis Prima ever played the trumpet on a record," Cannatella said. "He had a heart attack shortly after that and was ordered not to play the trumpet. He recorded after that, but primarily as a singer."

The "Wildest '75" album included new sounds of Prima.

The song "I'm Leaving You," became his swan song. During his last recording session, done live onstage, he sang the song at the end of his performance and soon after fell into a coma while being operated on.

"It became one of the most requested songs," Cannatella said. "Radio stations filled the airwaves with that particular song. It was the last vocal he laid down."