Oh Babe!
Artist Info
OH BABE! is an 8 piece swing and New Orleans jazz infused Las Vegas lounge act.
A tribute to “The Wildest Show in Vegas” circa 1955-1961 – the legendary casino lounge performances of Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Sam Butera & the Witnesses.
If that means nothing to you, it’s time to go all in because it’s your lucky day.
While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Louis 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 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 with his then wife, Keely Smith.
Louis and Keely got a run of shows after Cab Calloway at The Casbar Lounge in the Sahara Hotel. It was a racially segregated Las Vegas late 1954. The Casbar Lounge was no Apollo Theatre. It was no Cotton Club. It was a cocktail lounge that could hold seventy-five, squeezed into booths and on red leatherette chairs around bar tables. One side was open to the casino, and a double bar ran along the back.
A few weeks later Sam Butera was on board, the Witnesses were formed, and The Casbar Lounge became THE popular spot for the Strip’s entertainer’s post-show entertainment. Their late night shows became known as the “Wildest Show in Vegas”. The crowd included, among other Strip headliners, Sinatra, and what would become his Rat Pack, who would join Prima on stage. Keely Smith believed they were also the first Las Vegas Strip act to have African Americans in the audience. Just everyone going all in, for a good time.
OH BABE! bring back some of That Old Black Magic called love. In a short time, they have played intimate Melbourne cocktail bars, for several thousand people at Kingston Carols, The Mojo Big Band Sunset Festival (twice) and will return to headline Bright Rod Run again at the end of this year.
It’s engaging music, celebrating the best and simplest things.