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129-453: Louis Leo Prima ( / ˈ l uː i ˈ p r iː m ə / ; December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) 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

258-515: 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

387-601: A major port , New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region of the United States . New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinctive music , Creole cuisine , unique dialects , and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras . The historic heart of the city is the French Quarter , known for its French and Spanish Creole architecture and vibrant nightlife along Bourbon Street . The city has been described as

516-574: A "per capita income [that] was second in the nation and the highest in the South." The city had a role as the "primary commercial gateway for the nation's booming midsection." The port was the nation's third largest in terms of tonnage of imported goods, after Boston and New York, handling 659,000 tons in 1859. As the Creole elite feared, the American Civil War changed their world. In April 1862, following

645-572: A artistic centre in Mandate Palestine , gradually the group broke apart, and at least three of its members (Cherniavsky, Mestechkin and Bellison) settled in the US and started music careers there. In 1919, while the Zimro ensemble was still playing concerts, Cherniavsky wrote the music for a play called Moishe der Klezmer which was performed by Maurice Schwartz . His encounter with Schwartz led him to enter

774-406: A baby girl. Fans knew Prima as a genial and patient celebrity: he always signed autographs or posed for pictures with a smile. To the record companies and big corporations, however, Prima showed little deference, and he was uncompromising in seeking maximum compensation for his work. Warner Brothers offered him $ 60,000 to be in a movie based on the life of Helen Morgan , but he rejected it; when

903-474: A boys' school, in the fall of 1926. At Warren Easton, he played with the "Eastonites", the school band. In 1927, he partnered with fellow musician Frank Federico and the pair played at "The Whip", a run-down French Quarter nightclub. By the spring of 1928, Prima decided he would become a professional musician. After finishing high school in New Orleans, Prima had a few unsuccessful gigs, including when he joined

1032-1078: A brief period as Republican governor of Louisiana, becoming the first governor of African descent of a U.S. state (the next African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state was Douglas Wilder , elected in Virginia in 1989). New Orleans operated a racially integrated public school system during this period. Wartime damage to levees and cities along the Mississippi River adversely affected southern crops and trade. The federal government contributed to restoring infrastructure. The nationwide financial recession and Panic of 1873 adversely affected businesses and slowed economic recovery. From 1868, elections in Louisiana were marked by violence, as white insurgents tried to suppress black voting and disrupt Republican Party gatherings. The disputed 1872 gubernatorial election resulted in conflicts that ran for years. The " White League ", an insurgent paramilitary group that supported

1161-560: A club called the Famous Door , owned and operated by Jack Colt. Prima's recordings from 1935 were a combination of Dixieland and swing . In May 1935, Prima and Russell recorded "The Lady in Red", a national jukebox hit. They also recorded "Chinatown", "Chasing Shadows" and "Gypsy Tea Room". Martha Raye played a role in Prima's professional and personal life. She was a comedian with potential to become

1290-636: A complex system of levees and drainage pumps in an effort to protect the city. New Orleans was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005, which flooded more than 80% of the city, killed more than 1,800 people, and displaced thousands of residents, causing a population decline of over 50%. Since Katrina, major redevelopment efforts have led to a rebound in the city's population. Concerns have been expressed about gentrification , new residents buying property in formerly close-knit communities, and displacement of longtime residents. Additionally, high rates of violent crime continue to plague

1419-589: A concern into the 1740s for governor Marquis de Vaudreuil . In the early 1740s traders from the Thirteen Colonies crossed into the Appalachian Mountains. The Native American tribes would now operate dependent on which of various European colonists would most benefit them. Several of these tribes and especially the Chickasaw and Choctaw would trade goods and gifts for their loyalty. The economic issue in

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1548-417: A figure of Gabriel , the trumpeter-angel, sculpted by Russian-born sculptor Alexei Kazantsev. The inscription on the crypt's door quotes the lyrics from one of his hits: "When the end comes, I know, they'll say, 'just a gigolo' as life goes on without me ..." At a time when ethnic musicians were discouraged from openly stressing their ethnicity, Prima's conspicuous embrace of his Sicilian ethnicity opened

1677-464: A heart attack in 1973. Two years later, following headaches and episodes of memory loss, he sought medical attention, and was diagnosed with a brain stem tumor . He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and went into a coma following surgery. He never recovered, and died three years later, in 1978, having been moved back to New Orleans. He was buried in Metairie Cemetery in a gray marble crypt topped by

1806-426: A house at 1812 St. Peter Street in New Orleans. Prima's mother was a music lover, and she made sure that each child played an instrument. Louis was assigned the violin and started out playing at St. Ann's Parish. He became interested in jazz when he heard black musicians, including Louis Armstrong . Italian immigrants, Italian-Americans, and African-Americans in New Orleans at the time frequently socialized together in

1935-812: A large contingent of Tennessee state militia, Kentucky frontiersmen and local privateers (the latter led by the pirate Jean Lafitte ), to decisively defeat the British , led by Sir Edward Pakenham , in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. The armies had not learned of the Treaty of Ghent , which had been signed on December 24, 1814 (however, the treaty did not call for cessation of hostilities until after both governments had ratified it. The U.S. government ratified it on February 16, 1815). The fighting in Louisiana began in December 1814 and did not end until late January, after

2064-508: A member of a Jewish chamber music ensemble founded by clarinetist Simeon Bellison called the Moscow Quintet, which was heavily influenced by the Society for Jewish Folk Music . Cherniavsky had collected Jewish melodies in villages during that era and contributed them to the development of the ensemble's repertoire. Upon finishing his studies in 1914 he returned to Saint Petersburg and rejoined

2193-725: A musical director post at WLW Cincinnati. During the Second World War , he continued to work in radio, leaving WLW Cincinnati for WOV New York in 1941 and then WEII CBS Radio in Boston in 1942. In the early 1940s, he also ran another orchestra called the Boy Meets Girl Orchestra. In 1949 Cherniavsky spent time in Johannesburg , South Africa where he was musical director for a production of Oklahoma! as well as some Ballet productions. After 1949, he continued in music as

2322-527: A pianist, was also involved in leading rehearsals and possibly coming up with some of the arrangements. Famous klezmers who played in this orchestra included Naftule Brandwein , Dave Tarras and Shloimke Beckerman . The act toured the United States for three years. In 1924 his recordings for Pathé Records as the Cherniavsky Jewish Jazz Band were marketed as the first "Jewish Jazz Band" in

2451-760: A quarter million dollars throughout seven weeks at Casa Mañana. He was booked by William Morris Agency in late 1938, which sent him to Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Miami Beach, New Orleans, and St. Louis. The band traveled by car, since it was the cheapest option. In 1939, Prima was under contract to appear in Black theatres in New York, Baltimore, Boston and Washington D.C. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt attended his performance in Washington D.C., and formally invited him to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthday celebration. He appeared in photographs with

2580-499: A series of public meetings during 1765 to keep the populace in opposition of the establishment of Spanish rule. Anti-Spanish passions in New Orleans reached their highest level after two years of Spanish administration in Louisiana. On October 27, 1768, a mob of local residents, spiked the guns guarding New Orleans and took control of the city from the Spanish . The rebellion organized a group to sail for Paris, where it met with officials of

2709-486: A singer. The two featured a show at the club that granted Prima his first national debut on "The Fleischman Hour". In March 1936, Prima recorded " Sing Sing Sing ", which subsequently became a hit for Benny Goodman . Prima moved to California to expand his music. During this time there was a movement for big bands and orchestras. Prima hired Louis Masinter on the string bass, a New Orleans native. He fired McAdams so that he could have Frank Federico, his childhood friend, play

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2838-571: A star. He tried to find the style that fit her correctly, especially since rock and roll was emerging. Prima was not against rock 'n' roll like some other artists, such as Frank Sinatra and Jackie Gleason . He accepted that "the kids had an instinct for the kind of music that's fun to listen to and dance to." In 1954, Prima was offered a stay at The Sahara in Las Vegas to open his new act with Keely Smith. He enlisted New Orleans saxophonist Sam Butera and his backing musicians, The Witnesses. The act

2967-748: A television scriptwriter in Hollywood. Cherniavsky died on 3 November 1959 in New York City. During the Klezmer revival , which began in the late 1970s, there was renewed interest in the klezmer and Jewish compositions of Cherniavsky's early career. The Klezmorim covered one of his songs on their self-titled 1984 album. A band led by Pete Sokolow in the 1980s called the Original Klezmer Jazz Band incorporated Cherniavsky's material into their repertoire. In 1993, one of his 1920s recordings appeared on

3096-488: 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 . Louis Leo Prima was from a musical Italian American family in New Orleans, Louisiana . His father, Anthony Prima,

3225-579: Is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana . With a population of 383,997 according to the 2020 U.S. census, it is the most populous city in Louisiana and the French Louisiana region; the third-most populous city in the Deep South ; and the twelfth-most populous city in the southeastern United States . Serving as

3354-558: Is named after the Roman emperor Aurelian , originally being known as Aurelianum. Thus, by extension, since New Orleans is also named after Aurelian, its name in Latin would translate to Nova Aurelia. Following the defeat in the Seven Years' War , France formally transferred the possession of Louisiana to Spain , with which France had secretly signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau a year earlier, in

3483-515: The Capital did not provide him with a big break for his career, he did meet his first wife Louise Polizzi there. They married on June 25, 1929. From 1931 to 1932, Prima occupied his time by performing in the Avalon Club owned by his brother Leon. His first break was when Lou Forbes hired him for daily afternoon and early evening shows at The Saenger. New York was an attraction for hungry musicians during

3612-559: The Company of the Indies , founded a convent in the city in 1727. At the end of the colonial era, the Ursuline Academy maintained a house of 70 boarding and 100 day students. Today numerous schools in New Orleans can trace their lineage from this academy. Another notable example is the street plan and architecture still distinguishing New Orleans today. French Louisiana had early architects in

3741-625: The Democratic Party , was organized in 1874 and operated in the open, violently suppressing the black vote and running off Republican officeholders. In 1874, in the Battle of Liberty Place , 5,000 members of the White League fought with city police to take over the state offices for the Democratic candidate for governor, holding them for three days. By 1876, such tactics resulted in the white Democrats ,

3870-600: The Desert Inn because he would take in $ 3 million for producing twelve weeks' worth of acts a year for five years. Prima signed with Dot Records in 1959 and produced eight albums, headlined by Wonderland By Night and On Stage in 1961. The couple was constantly performing and it affected their marriage. An attempted vacation boating down the Atlantic coast ended up grounded in the Intracoastal Waterway until rescued by

3999-547: The Gallic community would have become a minority of the total population as early as 1820. After the Louisiana Purchase, numerous Anglo-Americans migrated to the city. The population doubled in the 1830s and by 1840, New Orleans had become the nation's wealthiest and the third-most populous city, after New York and Baltimore . German and Irish immigrants began arriving in the 1840s, working as port laborers. In this period,

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4128-711: The Great Depression . Guy Lombardo met Prima while he was performing at club Shim Sham during the Mardi Gras season of 1934. In September 1934, Prima began recording for the Brunswick label. He recorded "That's Where the South Begins", "Long About Midnight", "Jamaica Shout", and "Star Dust". Prima and his New Orleans Gang featured Frank Pinero playing piano, Jack Ryan on bass, Garrett McAdams on guitar, and Pee Wee Russell on clarinet. The band had their first performance at

4257-605: The Haitian Revolution , both whites and free people of color ( affranchis or gens de couleur libres ), arrived in New Orleans; a number brought their slaves with them, many of whom were native Africans or of full-blood descent. While Governor Claiborne and other officials wanted to keep out additional free black people, the French Creoles wanted to increase the French-speaking population. In addition to bolstering

4386-603: The Louisiana Purchase of 1803. New Orleans in 1840 was the third most populous city in the United States, and it was the largest city in the American South from the Antebellum era until after World War II . The city has historically been very vulnerable to flooding , due to its high rainfall, low lying elevation, poor natural drainage, and proximity to multiple bodies of water. State and federal authorities have installed

4515-434: The Mississippi River and that the use of the same name for the settlement relates to Native American concepts of the close interaction between rivers and their surrounding land. The name of New Orleans derives from the original French name, La Nouvelle-Orléans , which was given to the city in honor of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , who served as Louis XV 's regent from 1715 to 1723. The French city of Orléans itself

4644-405: The New Orleans streetcar strike during which serious unrest occurred. It is also credited for the creation of the distinctly Louisianan Po' boy sandwich. By the mid-20th century, New Orleanians recognized that their city was no longer the leading urban area in the South. By 1950, Houston , Dallas , and Atlanta exceeded New Orleans in size, and in 1960 Miami eclipsed New Orleans, even as

4773-480: The Treaty of Paris of 1763. The Spanish renamed the city Nueva Orleans ( pronounced [ˌnweβa oɾleˈans] ), which was used until 1800. The United States, which had acquired possession from France in 1803, adopted the French name and anglicized it to New Orleans . New Orleans has several nicknames, including these: La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded in the spring of 1718 (May 7 has become

4902-420: The port remained one of the nation's largest, automation and containerization cost many jobs. The city's former role as banker to the South was supplanted by larger peer cities. New Orleans' economy had always been based more on trade and financial services than on manufacturing, but the city's relatively small manufacturing sector also shrank after World War II. Despite some economic development successes under

5031-408: The "most unique" in the United States, owing in large part to its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. Additionally, New Orleans has increasingly been known as "Hollywood South" due to its prominent role in the film industry and in pop culture. Founded in 1718 by French colonists, New Orleans was once the territorial capital of French Louisiana before becoming part of the United States in

5160-673: The 1930s working contracts in various cities in radio, television and theatre. In 1930 he briefly worked in Toronto at the Uptown Theatre. He spent a few years running an orchestra called the Sympho-Syncopators. Then he was musical director of the Chicago Theatre around 1933-35. In 1936 he launched a television series called The Musical Cameraman on NBC . Around 1938, Cherniavsky and his family relocated to Cincinnati . Joseph took up

5289-715: The Americans held off the Royal Navy during a ten-day siege of Fort St. Philip (the Royal Navy went on to capture Fort Bowyer near Mobile , before the commanders received news of the peace treaty). As a port , New Orleans played a major role during the antebellum period in the Atlantic slave trade . The port handled commodities for export from the interior and imported goods from other countries, which were warehoused and transferred in New Orleans to smaller vessels and distributed along

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5418-456: The Atlantic world. Its inhabitants traded across the French commercial system. New Orleans was a hub for this trade both physically and culturally because it served as the exit point to the rest of the globe for the interior of the North American continent. In one instance the French government established a chapter house of sisters in New Orleans. The Ursuline sisters after being sponsored by

5547-514: The Civil War, fought against Jim Crow. They organized the Comité des Citoyens (Citizens Committee) to work for civil rights. As part of their legal campaign, they recruited one of their own, Homer Plessy , to test whether Louisiana's newly enacted Separate Car Act was constitutional. Plessy boarded a commuter train departing New Orleans for Covington, Louisiana , sat in the car reserved for whites only, and

5676-538: The Coast Guard. In January 1961, Prima was invited by Frank Sinatra to perform at the inaugural gala for President John F. Kennedy ; the two played "Old Black Magic" together. The constant performances and Prima's infidelities were too much for Smith. That noted, Smith also had an affair with Frank Sinatra, prior to her divorce from Prima in 1961. After finishing up their contract at the Desert Inn, she filed for divorce at

5805-519: The Colony Theatre in New York; they had made their stage debut at the opening of The Chinese Parrot . Later in 1928 Carl Laemmle appointed him musical director at Universal Studios and Cherniavsky relocated to Hollywood . One of the few films he scored during this time was Show Boat (1929). However, he was not there long; he left in July 1929 before his contract was finished. Cherniavsky spent

5934-610: The Confederate cause, his order warned that such future occurrences would result in his men treating such women as those "plying their avocation in the streets", implying that they would treat the women like prostitutes. Accounts of this spread widely. He also came to be called "Spoons" Butler because of the alleged looting that his troops did while occupying the city, during which time he himself supposedly pilfered silver flatware. Significantly, Butler abolished French-language instruction in city schools. Statewide measures in 1864 and, after

6063-852: The Dutch East Indies, finally ending up in the United States in August 1919. The ensemble stayed at least two years in the United States, performing at the congress of the American Zionist Federation in September 1919 and later at Carnegie Hall and various other venues. Sergei Prokofiev composed his Overture on Hebrew Themes for the Zimro Ensemble, who debuted it in February 1920 in New York, with Prokofiev as guest pianist. However, rather than continue with their stated goal of fundraising for

6192-775: The East Coast with his band. Prima struggled to upgrade to big band style. It was not supported by his mentors in New York or Los Angeles. With the help of Guy Lombardo he traveled to Chicago to promote his new format at the Blackhawk in October 1936. The new format was unsuccessful. In 1937, Prima and his smaller gang (Federico, Masinter, Pinero, and Meyer Weinberg on clarinet) returned to the Famous Door in New York to perform. He also appeared at Billy Rose 's Casa Mañana club in May 1938. He earned nearly

6321-639: The Eighth Judicial Circuit Court of Nevada in Las Vegas. After Smith was out of his life and his performances, Prima tried to prove that he did not need her. In the New York Post , there was a suggestion that Smith should rejoin for an act in New York's Basin Street East nightclub. Prima said, "I have no desire whatsoever to have any dealings with Keely Smith under any conditions…There is nothing in

6450-411: The Ellis Stratako Orchestra in 1929. Prima, Federico and saxophonist Dave Winstein drove to Florida for a gig but no one showed up. They made it to a relative's house, where they were given money for gas and a meal. Prima did not give up. He joined Joseph Cherniavsky 's Orchestra in 1929 at Jefferson Parish. He got a temporary job playing on the steamship Capital that docked on Canal Street . Although

6579-439: The French government. This group brought with them a long memorial to summarize the abuses the colony had endured from the Spanish. King Louis XV and his ministers reaffirmed Spain's sovereignty over Louisiana. Nearly all of the surviving 18th-century architecture of the Vieux Carré ( French Quarter ) dates from the Spanish period, notably excepting the Old Ursuline Convent . During the American Revolutionary War , New Orleans

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6708-453: The Lexicon of Yiddish Theatre notes that he retired from the theatre after his stay at the Public Theatre in 1926-7. Cherniavsky was also present in the early years of Yiddish language radio in the United States. He was musical director of what may have been the first regularly scheduled Yiddish music hour at WFBH in 1926. That program, called the Libby Hotel Program, ran from May to August of that year and may have featured Dave Tarras on

6837-495: The Midwest. The couple faced problems in Wisconsin and Chicago because they did not meet the marital requirements. Guy Lombardo helped them out by arranging a place in South Bend, Indiana . They wed on July 25, 1936. The couple had a few problems; one of the worst was that Louis denied much about his past. He never confessed to Alma that he had a daughter until she found out from a tax return. Prima also pushed Ross into signing with Paramount in 1937. He continued to travel along

6966-437: The Mississippi River watershed. The river was filled with steamboats, flatboats and sailing ships. Despite its role in the slave trade , New Orleans at the time also had the largest and most prosperous community of free persons of color in the nation, who were often educated, middle-class property owners. Dwarfing the other cities in the Antebellum South, New Orleans had the U.S.' largest slave market. The market expanded after

7095-463: The National Theatre, Irving Place Theatre, and Thomashefsky's Broadway Theatre. One 1922 Thomashefsky production he wrote the music for was called Dance, Song and Wine. In 1926 he was made composer and conductor at the newly opening Public Theatre at Second Avenue and 4th Street. However, his composing for Yiddish music appears to have ended during this period; his last copyrighted piece of this kind appears to be Der kaddish tsu mayn shtam (1925), and

7224-528: The President, which ultimately boosted his publicity. Deemed unfit for military service in World War II because of a knee injury, Prima continued performing. By the mid-1940s, Prima was experiencing great success. People were purchasing tickets early in the morning for shows later on that evening. Despite the anti-Italian sentiment during the war, Prima continued to record Italian songs, the most famous being "Angelina", named after his mother. Others included "Please No Squeeza Da Banana", "Baciagaloop (Makes Love on

7353-434: The Stoop)", and "Felicia No Capicia." He performed the Italian songs at the Strand Theatre in New York. He brought in $ 440,000 in six weeks. In Detroit he could bring in about $ 38,000 for an afternoon performance. With all of this success, he decided to go back to Chicago to prove himself; he sold out the "Panther Room" in that city. Prima had several big hits in the summer of 1945, including "My Dreams Are Getting Better All

7482-467: The Time" and "Bell-Bottom Trousers". As his career grew, however, his marriage with Alma simultaneously failed. They got a divorce when she discovered he had been cheating on her with another actress. Alma was supposed to receive $ 15,000 a year or 7.5% of his earnings. Prima ignored the payments until they piled up to about $ 60,000, which forced him to write a settlement check of $ 45,000 plus $ 250 per week. Later he married his secretary, Tracelene Barrett. By

7611-509: The United States ended the international trade in 1808. Two-thirds of the more than one million slaves brought to the Deep South arrived via forced migration in the domestic slave trade. The money generated by the sale of slaves in the Upper South has been estimated at 15 percent of the value of the staple crop economy. The slaves were collectively valued at half a billion dollars. The trade spawned an ancillary economy—transportation, housing and clothing, fees, etc., estimated at 13.5 percent of

7740-403: The United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Thereafter, the city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French , Creoles and Africans . Later immigrants were Irish , Germans , Poles and Italians . Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on nearby large plantations . Between 1791 and 1810, thousands of St. Dominican refugees from

7869-419: The United States, with their final goal being Palestine . Their repertoire consisted not only of standard Western chamber repertoire, but also compositions by Russian Jewish composers such as Alexander Krein , Solomon Rosowsky , Joseph Achron , and Mikhail Gnessin . The Zimro Ensemble left Petrograd in March 1918, passing through the Ural Mountains into the East. They toured Eastern Russia, China, and

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7998-423: The United States. Before the arrival of European colonists, the indigenous Choctaw people called the area of present-day New Orleans Bulbancha , which translates as "land of many tongues". It appears to have been a contraction of balbáha a̱shah , which means "there are foreign speakers". In his book Histoire de la Louisiane , Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz wrote that the indigenous name referred to

8127-404: The United States. The rate of lynchings of black men was high across the South, as other states also disfranchised blacks and sought to impose Jim Crow. Nativist prejudices also surfaced. Anti-Italian sentiment in 1891 contributed to the lynchings of 11 Italians , some of whom had been acquitted of the murder of the police chief. Some were shot and killed in the jail where they were detained. It

8256-550: The administrations of DeLesseps "Chep" Morrison (1946–1961) and Victor "Vic" Schiro (1961–1970), metropolitan New Orleans' growth rate consistently lagged behind more vigorous cities. During the later years of Morrison's administration, and for the entirety of Schiro's, the city was a center of the Civil Rights movement . The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded in New Orleans, and lunch counter sit-ins were held in Canal Street department stores. A prominent and violent series of confrontations occurred in 1960 when

8385-448: The album I Wish You Love , and received a Grammy for it in 1958. She earned Billboard and Variety's number one female vocalist award in 1958–59, and the Playboy Jazz Award in 1959. The duo also redid " That Old Black Magic ", which was a Top 40 hit for two months. It earned the duo a Grammy. The couple also had two daughters together, one of whom, Toni, became an actress and singer in her own right. Prima decided to relocate his acts to

8514-463: The antebellum period. It was the nation's fifth-largest city in 1860 (after New York, Philadelphia , Boston and Baltimore) and was significantly larger than all other southern cities. From the mid-19th century onward rapid economic growth shifted to other areas, while New Orleans' relative importance steadily declined. The growth of railways and highways decreased river traffic, diverting goods to other transportation corridors and markets. Thousands of

8643-418: The authority of the " Fifth Military District " of the United States during Reconstruction. Louisiana was readmitted to the Union in 1868. Its Constitution of 1868 granted universal male suffrage and established universal public education . Both blacks and whites were elected to local and state offices. In 1872, lieutenant governor P.B.S. Pinchback , who was of mixed race , succeeded Henry Clay Warmouth for

8772-448: The city attempted school desegregation, following the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). When six-year-old Ruby Bridges integrated William Frantz Elementary School in the Ninth Ward , she was the first child of color to attend a previously all-white school in the South. Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl at Tulane Stadium , when the Pitt Panthers , with African-American fullback Bobby Grier on

8901-416: The city volunteered for the first regiments of Black troops in the War. Led by Brigadier General Daniel Ullman (1810–1892), of the 78th Regiment of New York State Volunteers Militia, they were known as the " Corps d'Afrique ". While that name had been used by a militia before the war, that group was composed of free people of color . The new group was made up mostly of former slaves. They were supplemented in

9030-449: The city with New Orleans experiencing 280 murders in 2022, resulting in the highest per capita homicide rate in the United States. The city and Orleans Parish ( French : paroisse d'Orléans ) are coterminous . As of 2017, Orleans Parish is the third most populous parish in Louisiana, behind East Baton Rouge Parish and neighboring Jefferson Parish . The city and parish are bounded by St. Tammany Parish and Lake Pontchartrain to

9159-413: The city's expansion. The most ambitious development during this period was a drainage plan devised by engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood , designed to break the surrounding swamp's stranglehold on the city's geographic expansion. Until then, urban development in New Orleans was largely limited to higher ground along the natural river levees and bayous . Joseph Cherniavsky Josef Leo Cherniavsky

9288-527: The city's occupation by the Union Navy after the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip , Gen. Benjamin F. Butler – a respected Massachusetts lawyer serving in that state's militia – was appointed military governor. New Orleans residents supportive of the Confederacy nicknamed him "Beast" Butler, because of an order he issued. After his troops had been assaulted and harassed in the streets by women still loyal to

9417-503: The city's population. The city became 63 percent black, a greater proportion than Charleston, South Carolina 's 53 percent at that time. On January 8-11, 1811, about 500 enslaved Africans in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes rose up in rebellion against their enslavers, killing two white men in the process. They proceeded to march south toward New Orleans and were eventually controlled by

9546-469: The clarinet. In late 1927 he once again tried to launch a vaudeville tour, this time under the name Cherniavsky and his Orientals, specializing in "Chassidic and Caucasian music". After leaving the Yiddish theatre around 1927, Cherniavsky gravitated towards mainstream English music, whether in radio, film or theatre. In February 1928 he launched a new radio series with Josef Cherniavsky's Colonials Orchestra at

9675-515: The colony, which continued under Vaudreuil, resulted in many raids by Native American tribes, taking advantage of the French weakness. In 1747 and 1748, the Chickasaw would raid along the east bank of the Mississippi all the way south to Baton Rouge . These raids would often force residents of French Louisiana to take refuge in New Orleans proper. Inability to find labor was the most pressing issue in

9804-613: The competing interests of France, Spain, and England, as well as traditional rivals. Notably, the Natchez , whose traditional lands were along the Mississippi near the modern city of Natchez, Mississippi , had a series of wars culminating in the Natchez Revolt that began in 1729 with the Natchez overrunning Fort Rosalie . Approximately 230 French colonists were killed and the Natchez settlement destroyed, causing fear and concern in New Orleans and

9933-729: The conductor of the Saginaw Civic Symphony from 1951 to 1959. Joseph's wife was a pianist named Lara (née Lieberman) was born in Nikolaev , where they were married in June 1917. Their son William was born in June 1918 in Russia and their daughter Salomea ( Sally Fox ) was born in California in December 1929. Sally would go on to become a professional photographer and editor of books of art about women's everyday lives in history, while William became

10062-534: The country. Dave Tarras later said that the music had not really been Jazz, but just "nice theatre music". Klezmer researcher Jeffrey Wollock describes the act's music as "neither jazz nor true klezmer, his arrangements were modernistic, theatrical treatments of Jewish content." By 1925 the orchestra disbanded. Cherniavsky had also continued to compose for the Yiddish Theatre after The Dybbuk. He went to work for Boris Thomashefsky and at various venues including

10191-479: The doors for other Italian-American and ethnic American musicians to display their ethnic roots. Prima's expected visit to a small Italian restaurant drives the plot of the critically acclaimed 1996 film Big Night . On July 25, 2010, the centenary year of his birth, Prima received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . In 2018, Prima's 1936 single "What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin')"

10320-415: The early 20th century when medical and scientific advances ameliorated the situation, the city suffered repeated epidemics of yellow fever and other tropical and infectious diseases . In the first half of the 19th century, yellow fever epidemics killed over 150,000 people in New Orleans. After growing by 45 percent in the 1850s, by 1860, the city had nearly 170,000 people. It had grown in wealth, with

10449-494: The end of the 1960s, a large gap in income levels and educational attainment persisted between the city's White and African American communities. As the middle class and wealthier members of both races left the center city, its population's income level dropped, and it became proportionately more African American. From 1980, the African American majority elected primarily officials from its own community. They struggled to narrow

10578-504: The end of the war years, the popularity of big band music was diminishing, and by 1947 Prima was playing more jazzy versions of his music. Under a new contract with RCA Victor , he recorded "Civilization"; "You Can't Tell the Depth of the Well"; "Say it with a Slap"; "Valencia"; "My Flame Went Out Last Night"; "Thousand Islands"; "Mean To Me"; and "Tutti Tutti Pizzicato". In 1948, Prima and Barrett had

10707-511: The ensemble, played in some Russian orchestras, and began to compose. In 1918, with the support of the aforementioned Society, Bellison founded a new chamber ensemble called the Zimro Ensemble, also known as the Palestine Chamber Music Ensemble: ZIMRO. The ensemble added a piano and its lead violinist was Jacob Mestechkin, a student of Leopold Auer . The ensemble's goal was to embark on tours of Eastern Russia, Asia, and

10836-459: The foreign trends as well. The French colony of Louisiana was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the 1763 Treaty of Paris , following France's defeat by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War . After the French relinquished West Louisiana to the Spanish, New Orleans merchants attempted to ignore Spanish rule and even re-institute French control on the colony. The citizens of New Orleans held

10965-465: The free people of color as mulatto , a term used to cover all degrees of mixed race. Mostly part of the Francophone group, they constituted the artisan, educated and professional class of African Americans. The mass of blacks were still enslaved, working at the port, in domestic service, in crafts, and mostly on the many large, surrounding sugarcane plantations. Throughout New Orleans' history, until

11094-405: The gap by creating conditions conducive to the economic uplift of the African American community. New Orleans became increasingly dependent on tourism as an economic mainstay during the administrations of Sidney Barthelemy (1986–1994) and Marc Morial (1994–2002). Relatively low levels of educational attainment, high rates of household poverty, and rising crime threatened the city's prosperity in

11223-468: The guitar. With all of his success, his marriage back in New Orleans had already failed. He and Louise were divorced in 1936, following infidelities going back at least to the French Quarter in 1933. A few months later, he was involved in a new fling with Alma Ross, an actress. Prima and Ross were quite serious and after only a few months together he asked her to marry him while he started his tour out in

11352-576: The institutionalizing of laws governing slavery within the colony. These laws required that slaves be baptized in the Roman Catholic faith, slaves be married in the church; the slave law formed in the 1720s is known as the Code Noir , which would bleed into the antebellum period of the American South as well. Louisiana slave culture had its own distinct Afro-Creole society that called on past cultures and

11481-501: The instrument from his uncle Alexander Fiedemann. He then obtained a government scholarship and traveled to study at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory under such figures as Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov . He graduated in 1911 with a gold medal as a Cellist and Conductor and then went to Leipzig where he finished his studies under Julius Klengel . While still a music student, Cherniavsky had been

11610-740: The last two years of the War by newly organized United States Colored Troops , who played an increasingly important part in the war. Violence throughout the South, especially the Memphis Riots of 1866 followed by the New Orleans Riot in the same year, led Congress to pass the Reconstruction Act and the Fourteenth Amendment , extending the protections of full citizenship to freedmen and free people of color. Louisiana and Texas were put under

11739-475: The later decades of the century. The negative effects of these socioeconomic conditions aligned poorly with the changes in the late-20th century to the economy of the United States, which reflected a post-industrial, knowledge-based paradigm in which mental skills and education were more important to advancement than manual skills. In the 20th century, New Orleans' government and business leaders believed they needed to drain and develop outlying areas to provide for

11868-459: The latter's population reached its historic peak. As with other older American cities, highway construction and suburban development drew residents from the center city to newer housing outside. The 1970 census recorded the first absolute decline in population since the city became part of the United States in 1803. The Greater New Orleans metropolitan area continued expanding in population, albeit more slowly than other major Sun Belt cities. While

11997-616: The legislature passed a constitutional amendment incorporating a " grandfather clause " that effectively disfranchised freedmen as well as the propertied people of color manumitted before the war. Unable to vote, African Americans could not serve on juries or in local office, and were closed out of formal politics for generations. The Southern U.S. was ruled by a white Democratic Party. Public schools were racially segregated and remained so until 1960. New Orleans' large community of well-educated, often French-speaking free persons of color ( gens de couleur libres ), who had been free prior to

12126-545: The local militia, with numerous casualties on both sides. The uprising has been called the "largest slave rebellion in US history." During the final campaign of the War of 1812 , the British sent a force of 11,000 in an attempt to capture New Orleans. Despite great challenges, General Andrew Jackson , with support from the U.S. Navy , successfully cobbled together a force of militia from Louisiana and Mississippi , U.S. Army regulars,

12255-421: The marketing industry. Throughout his sixteen-month contract, his top hits consisted of "Chop Suey, Chow Mein", "Ooh-Dahdily-Dah", and "Chili Sauce". To support his horses and manage his expenses, he chose to drop his big band and play in lesser clubs. On top of it all, he divorced his third wife Tracelene on June 18, 1953. Less than a month later he married Keely. She was open to criticism, and he wanted to make her

12384-508: The most ambitious people of color left the state in the Great Migration around World War II and after, many for West Coast destinations. From the late 1800s, most censuses recorded New Orleans slipping down the ranks in the list of largest American cities (New Orleans' population still continued to increase throughout the period, but at a slower rate than before the Civil War). In 1929

12513-453: The music coming from clubs and watched his older brother Leon play the cornet . When Leon left the house to spend one summer in Texas, Prima practiced continuously on his worn-down cornet. He formed a band in 1924 with his childhood friends " Candy" Candido (bass), Irving Fazola (clarinet) and Johnny Viviano (drums). Prima attended Jesuit High School but transferred to Warren Easton High , then

12642-419: The north, St. Bernard Parish and Lake Borgne to the east, Plaquemines Parish to the south, and Jefferson Parish to the south and west. The city anchors the larger Greater New Orleans metropolitan area , which had a population of 1,271,845 in 2020. Greater New Orleans is the most populous metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in Louisiana and, since the 2020 census, has been the 46th most populous MSA in

12771-490: The price per person, amounting to tens of billions of dollars (2005 dollars, adjusted for inflation) during the antebellum period, with New Orleans as a prime beneficiary. According to historian Paul Lachance, the addition of white immigrants [from Saint-Domingue] to the white creole population enabled French-speakers to remain a majority of the white population until almost 1830. If a substantial proportion of free persons of color and slaves had not also spoken French, however,

12900-672: The province who were trained as military engineers and were now assigned to design government buildings. Pierre Le Blond de Tour and Adrien de Pauger , for example, planned many early fortifications, along with the street plan for the city of New Orleans. After them in the 1740s, Ignace François Broutin, as engineer-in-chief of Louisiana, reworked the architecture of New Orleans with an extensive public works program. French policy-makers in Paris attempted to set political and economic norms for New Orleans. The city acted autonomously in much of its cultural and physical aspects, but stayed in communication with

13029-561: The raucous orangutan King Louie . He performed the hit song " I Wan'na Be like You " on the soundtrack, leading to the recording of two albums with Phil Harris : The Jungle Book and More Jungle Book , and covering MC duties and singing the theme song "Winnie the Pooh", for the 1967 album entitled Happy Birthday Winnie the Pooh , all of these on Disneyland Records . He can be heard on the soundtrack of another cartoon feature, The Man Called Flintstone . One of Prima's final television appearances

13158-531: The request and threatened to resign. The game went on as planned. The Civil Rights movement's success in gaining federal passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 renewed constitutional rights, including voting for blacks. Together, these resulted in the most far-reaching changes in New Orleans' 20th century history. Though legal and civil equality were re-established by

13287-514: The rest of the territory. In retaliation, then-governor Étienne Perier launched a campaign to completely destroy the Natchez nation and its Native allies. By 1731, the Natchez people had been killed, enslaved, or dispersed among other tribes, but the campaign soured relations between France and the territory's Native Americans leading directly into the Chickasaw Wars of the 1730s. Relations with Louisiana's Native American population remained

13416-586: The roster, met the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets . There had been controversy over whether Grier should be allowed to play due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin 's opposition to racial integration. After Griffin publicly sent a telegram to the state's Board Of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer rejected

13545-570: The same clubs and bars. Local clubs tailored to the ostracized Italian community, such as Matranga's, Joe Segrettas, Tonti's Social Club, and Lala's Big 25, were all Italian-American clubs owned and operated by Italians; African Americans were always welcomed in these clubs and often played music and fraternized with Italians and Italian-Americans. Prima's interest in jazz was sparked while frequenting these clubs and observing black and Italian jazz artists playing together. According to author Garry Boulard in his book Louis Prima , Prima paid attention to

13674-532: The situation for slaves in the New World . Afro-Creole was present in religious beliefs and the Louisiana Creole language. The religion most associated with this period was called Voodoo . In the city of New Orleans an inspiring mixture of foreign influences created a melting pot of culture that is still celebrated today. By the end of French colonization in Louisiana, New Orleans was recognized commercially in

13803-462: The so-called Redeemers , regaining political control of the state legislature. The federal government gave up and withdrew its troops in 1877, ending Reconstruction . In 1892 the racially integrated unions of New Orleans led a general strike in the city from November 8 to 12, shutting down the city & winning the vast majority of their demands. Dixiecrats passed Jim Crow laws, establishing racial segregation in public facilities. In 1889,

13932-577: The state legislature passed more restrictions on manumissions of slaves and virtually ended it in 1852. In the 1850s, white Francophones remained an intact and vibrant community in New Orleans. They maintained instruction in French in two of the city's four school districts (all served white students). In 1860, the city had 13,000 free people of color ( gens de couleur libres ), the class of free, mostly mixed-race people that expanded in number during French and Spanish rule. They set up some private schools for their children. The census recorded 81 percent of

14061-671: The studio increased the offer to $ 75,000, it was still not enough. Prima wanted $ 100,000 and creative control of his role, which was rejected by Warner Brothers. He had protracted disputes with the Strand Theatre in New York City and Majestic Records , and he flatly refused to allow a former songwriter to advertise herself as "formerly featured with Louis Prima's orchestra". Prima had expensive tastes: he shopped at luxury clothing stores and always wore top-brand suits. He spent great sums on horse racing and his own private stable of horses. He said he enjoyed gambling because it relaxed him; riding

14190-769: The territory's French-speaking population, these refugees had a significant impact on the culture of Louisiana, including developing its sugar industry and cultural institutions. As more refugees were allowed into the Territory of Orleans , St. Dominican refugees who had first gone to Cuba also arrived. Many of the white Francophones had been deported by officials in Cuba in 1809 as retaliation for Bonapartist schemes. Nearly 90 percent of these immigrants settled in New Orleans. The 1809 migration brought 2,731 whites, 3,102 free people of color (of mixed-race European and African descent), and 3,226 slaves of primarily African descent, doubling

14319-651: The traditional date to mark the anniversary, but the actual day is unknown) by the French Mississippi Company , under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville , on land inhabited by the Chitimacha . It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , who was regent of the Kingdom of France at the time. His title came from the French city of Orléans . As a French colony, Louisiana faced struggles with numerous Native American tribes , who were navigating

14448-527: The war, 1868 further strengthened the English-only policy imposed by federal representatives. With the predominance of English speakers, that language had already become dominant in business and government. By the end of the 19th century, French usage had faded. It was also under pressure from Irish, Italian and German immigrants. However, as late as 1902 "one-fourth of the population of the city spoke French in ordinary daily intercourse, while another two-fourths

14577-480: The war, it was spared the destruction through warfare suffered by many other cities of the American South . The Union Army eventually extended its control north along the Mississippi River and along the coastal areas. As a result, most of the southern portion of Louisiana was originally exempted from the liberating provisions of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln . Large numbers of rural ex-slaves and some free people of color from

14706-551: The world of the Yiddish Theatre more prominently as a composer and arranger. They collaborated on the first American adaption of The Dybbuk which played to great success in 1921–22. After The Dybbuk closed, Cherniavsky rewrote some of the material into a new vaudeville act which he variously called Joseph Cherniavsky's Yiddish-American Jazz Band, the Hasidic-American Jazz Band, etc. The orchestra members would dress as Cossacks or Hasidim . Cherniavsky's wife Lara,

14835-424: The world or no one that could ever make me accept this woman in our act." Prima's father died in 1961, the same year as the divorce from Smith. His mother died in the winter of 1965. In 1962, he tried to form his own recording company called Prima One Records. He filled Smith's spot with Gia Maione , a waitress who was 21 years old. He did his best to make her famous by producing her first album "This Is … Gia." It

14964-415: The young colony. The colonists turned to sub-Saharan African slaves to make their investments in Louisiana profitable. In the late 1710s the transatlantic slave trade imported enslaved Africans into the colony. This led to the biggest shipment in 1716 where several trading ships appeared with slaves as cargo to the local residents in a one-year span. By 1724, the large number of blacks in Louisiana prompted

15093-474: Was a hit, and ultimately led Prima to sign with Capitol Records in 1955. The act performed regularly in Las Vegas for the rest of the decade. He released his first album with Capitol Records, The Wildest! , in September 1956. Some of the popular songs include his medley of "Just a Gigolo" and "I Ain't Got Nobody". In 1957, the couple released The Call of the Wildest . Keely worked with other artists to release

15222-406: Was able to understand the language perfectly," and as late as 1945, many elderly Creole women spoke no English. The last major French language newspaper, L'Abeille de la Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans Bee), ceased publication on December 27, 1923, after 96 years. According to some sources, Le Courrier de la Nouvelle Orleans continued until 1955. As the city was captured and occupied early in

15351-548: Was an important port for smuggling aid to the American revolutionaries , and transporting military equipment and supplies up the Mississippi River . Beginning in the 1760s, Filipinos began to settle in and around New Orleans. Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez successfully directed a southern campaign against the British from the city in 1779. The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800 restored French control of New Orleans and Louisiana, but Napoleon sold both to

15480-677: Was another one of the things that relaxed him the most outside of his busy performing life. He knew each of his horses well and read about training. Another hobby was boating. He purchased a boat for his third wife Tracelene Barrett for their honeymoon on the Hudson River . Keely Smith was twenty when she met Prima in August 1948. Born in Norfolk, Virginia , she made a point to stop by the Surf Club in Virginia Beach to visit him. To her surprise, Prima

15609-429: Was arrested. The case resulting from this incident, Plessy v. Ferguson , was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896. The court ruled that " separate but equal " accommodations were constitutional, effectively upholding Jim Crow measures. In practice, African American public schools and facilities were underfunded across the South. The Supreme Court ruling contributed to this period as the nadir of race relations in

15738-454: Was as a mystery guest on What's My Line? in 1970. Prima was married five times and had six children. Prima was married to Louise Polizzi from 1929 to 1936; Alma Ross from 1936 to 1945; Tracelene Barrett from 1945 to 1952; Keely Smith from 1953 to 1961; and Gia Maione in 1963. All but his marriage to Maione ended in divorce. Among his children are musical performers Lena Prima and Louis Prima Jr. , both born to Maione. Prima suffered

15867-594: Was born in Lubny , Poltava Governorate , Russian Empire around 1890. The exact date of his birth is unclear; a citizenship application by his wife in 1928 said March 29, 1889; he himself said on US military documents that it was March 29, 1890, while the Lexicon of Yiddish Theatre says it was March 31, 1894. His father was a klezmer musician, as was his grandfather. Although the Lexicon of Yiddish Theatre claims that his grandfather

15996-549: Was funded entirely by him, and it was unsuccessful. They married and had a daughter, Lena , later a New Orleans–based singer and recording artist with Basin Street Records , and his only son, Louis Prima Jr. , the last of his six children. He was also in the middle of making appearances in Las Vegas and promoting the film Twist All Night . In 1967, Prima landed a role in Walt Disney 's animated feature The Jungle Book , as

16125-402: Was looking for a new female vocalist to replace Lily Ann Carol . Smith was wearing a bathing suit and was not allowed into the club until she put on proper attire. Luckily, someone was able to lend her some acceptable clothing and she auditioned. She landed the part and was soon traveling with his band. Prima signed with Columbia Records in the fall of 1951 to keep up with the rapid changes in

16254-437: Was sampled by Kids See Ghosts on the song " 4th Dimension ", which appeared on their album Kids See Ghosts . Prima's New Orleans–based daughter, Lena Prima , performs throughout the nation. His son, Louis Prima Jr. leads his own band, performing music composed and played by his father and popular music of many genres. New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames)

16383-426: Was the largest mass lynching in U.S. history. In July 1900 the city was swept by white mobs rioting after Robert Charles, a young African American, killed a policeman and temporarily escaped. The mob killed him and an estimated 20 other blacks; seven whites died in the days-long conflict, until a state militia suppressed it. New Orleans' economic and population zenith in relation to other American cities occurred in

16512-442: Was the prototype for Sholem Aleichem 's fictional klezmer Stempenyu (in real life, a violinist named Yosele Druker ), it seems that his grandfather was actually Peysekh Fidelman, father of the violinists Alexander Fiedemann . In his youth, Joseph studied in a Cheder and also played drums in his father's ensemble at weddings. He soon began to learn the cello from his father, and then moved to Odessa where he continued to learn

16641-444: Was the son of Leonardo Di Prima, a Sicilian immigrant from Salaparuta , while his mother, Angelina Caravella, had emigrated from the island of Ustica north of Sicily as a baby. Prima was the second child of four; his older brother, Leon, was born in 1907, while his sisters Elizabeth and Marguerite were younger. Marguerite died when she was three years old. Leon, Louis, and Elizabeth were all baptized at St. Ann's Parish. They lived in

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