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Italian-American singer, actor, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter, Louis Prima (1910-1978) was rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing, and jump blues, but he touched on various other genres throughout his career. From the 1940s through the 1960s, when these recordings were made, his music further encompassed early R&B, rock'n'roll, boogie-woogie, and even Italian folk music, such as the tarantella. In 1954 Prima was offered a long-term engagement at The Sahara in Las Vegas to open his new act with singer Keely Smith (born in 1928, she is 89 at this writing). He enlisted New Orleans saxophonist Sam Butera (1927-2009) and his backing musicians, ''The Witnesses''. The act was a hit, and ultimately led Prima to sign with Capitol Records in 1955. The present concert performance at The Sahara, immortalized on the LP Las Vegas Prima Style (Capitol Records - T-1010), was taped by Prima in 1958 with Keely and Butera, and is presented here in its entirety.

This DRG two-fer brings together two worthy and neglected Louis Prima/Keely Smith Capitol albums from the late '50s. Hey Boy! Hey Girl! is the soundtrack album from the lounge duo's 1959 film of the same name. Not as cheesy as it might sound at first, it features Louis and Keely (and Sam Butera & the Witnesses) at their Las Vegas peak. The title track is a brisk, lightly swinging duet from the pair while "Oh Marie" almost delicately reprises Prima's Sicilian heavoly scatting classic from the previous year's The Wildest! Saxophonist Butera gets his own hipster vocal on "Fever," and Keely sings at least two ballads, "You Are My Love" and "Autumn Leaves," to lend the proceedings a little class…