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| Louis Prima Scholarship Award Louis Prima Jr. joined Anthony Sylvester and Paul Williams at the annual ASCAP Foundation Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, December 12th to present The ASCAP Foundation Louis Prima Award which provides a scholarship to a talented musician to attend the prestigious New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. This year's recipient is saxophonist Miles Berry, a 16-year-old student from Mandeville, Louisiana. A talented musician, Miles was selected last April to perform with jazz legend Herbie Hancock in celebration of International Jazz Day. Miles will travel more than 70 miles every day to attend school. The award was established in 2011 by Prima's widow Gia Prima and the family's law firm of Riker Danzig. A graduate of Toms River High School South, Gia Maione joined the Louis Prima Orchestra in 1962 replacing the group's popular lead singer Keely Smith. She performed and recorded with Louis Prima until his untimely death in 1975. In 1963, she married the entertainment icon and they had two children, Louis Jr. and Lena. For the 14 years she performed with the orchestra, the group was extremely popular, selling out wherever they performed. Currently, Gia Prima handles the licensing of Prima's work and operates Prima Music LLC. Gia Prima is proud to continue her late husband's legacy of musical excellence with the award that bears his name. "Louis would embrace this support for a young musician, " she said. "It is so rewarding to be able to enable a talented student to attend NOCCA and the family is proud to participate." Also from New Jersey, attorney Anthony Sylvester represents Gia Prima and the Prima family in a practice that moves between the buttoned up world of bankers and the high profile world of entertainers, Mr. Sylvester also represents Guns n' Roses, the family of Sebastian Cabot, and the family of Phil Harris to name a few. While Riker Danzig is better known for more traditional practice areas such as litigation, insurance and commercial law, thanks to Anthony Sylvester it is developing a strong practice in entertainment law. When asked about the Louis Prima Award, Anthony Sylvester said, "It is our great pleasure to represent Gia Prima and we are honored to underwrite this award to young artists and support the performing arts in New Orleans." Louis Prima, born in the birthplace of Jazz, New Orleans, remains one of the greatest contributors to popular music and a powerful entertainment influence. The early Swing Era was marked by Mr. Prima's incredible output of compositions and recordings between1933-39, including "Sing, Sing, Sing, " an immortal standard inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982. Louis Prima was awarded the first Grammy award in the Vocal Group category for his knockout rendition of "That Old Black Magic" in 1958. Artists as diverse as David Lee Roth and Brian Setzer brought Louis Prima's music to the top of the charts in the 80's and 90's. # # # # # About Riker Danzig: Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP has focused on providing high-quality legal services to the business community. It has been named the #1 law firm in New Jersey by Best Lawyers in America each year since 2008. Headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, the firm has additional offices in Trenton and New York and an affiliate office in London. The Firm's Entertainment Law practice represents clients including Gia Prima; the family of actor Sebastian Cabot; former Olympic boxer Gerald Cooney; former I.B.F. Heavyweight Champion Chris Byrd; Joel Dorn, the late Grammy-winning record producer; Guns n' Roses; and the family of late actress Alice Faye and her husband, entertainer Phil Harris. Riker Danzig has earned a national reputation for expertise in trial and appellate litigation, insurance, commercial law and bankruptcy and, in addition, has highly-respected practices in banking law, environmental law, employment law, family practice, tax and trusts and estates, corporate law and mergers & acquisitions, governmental affairs, public utilities, real estate and intellectual property. About the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts: NOCCA is a regional, pre-professional arts training center that offers secondary school-age children intensive instruction in dance, media arts, music (classical, jazz, vocal), theatre arts (drama, musical theatre, theatre design), visual arts, and creative writing, while demanding simultaneous excellence. NOCCA was founded in 1973 by a diverse coalition of artists, educators, business leaders, and community activists who saw the need for an institution devoted to our region's burgeoning young talent. Today, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr., Terence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet, Wendell Pierce, and Saints former cornerback Ashley Ambrose are only a few NOCCA graduates who can attest to the extraordinary educational opportunity the Center represents to the children of Louisiana. About ASCAP: The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is a membership association of more than 420, 000 U.S. composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers of every kind of music. Through agreements with affiliated international societies, ASCAP also represents hundreds of thousands of music creators worldwide. ASCAP is the only U.S. performing rights organization created and controlled by composers, songwriters and music publishers, with a Board of Directors elected by and from the membership. ASCAP protects the rights of its members by licensing and distributing royalties for the non-dramatic public performances of their copyrighted works. ASCAP's licensees encompass all who want to perform copyrighted music publicly. write your comments about the article :: © 2012 Jazz News :: home page |