Lou Sino (August 16, 1930 – July 30, 1986) was a New Orleans trombonist and singer who came to prominence as a member of
Louis Prima's backing band The Witnesses, led by
Sam Butera
Sam Butera (August 17, 1927 – June 3, 2009) was an American tenor saxophonist and singer-songwriter best noted for his collaborations with Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Butera is frequently regarded as a crossover artist who performed with equal ...
. He also released a number of his own recordings with his band The Bengals.
Background
Louis Marcel Scioneaux was born to parents Eyere and Florence Scioneaux in Algiers, Louisiana on August 16, 1930. He was the second born of six children. He went to Behrman High School and played in the high school band there. From the age of 13 he had been playing trombone and guitar.
He was married to wife Patricia for 33 years and with her he raised five children.
[Westbank Musicians Hall of Fame, Inc]
Louis Marcel Scioneaux a/k/a Lou Sino
/ref>
Career
1940s to 1967
By the age of 17, he was playing at the Famous Door.[ In 1956, Sino was in New Orleans, playing with musicians such as Dick Allen, trumpeter Stuart Bergen, banjo player, Tom Brown, and tenor saxophonist Francis A. Murray.
In 1957, he joined Louis Prima's group.][''That Old Black Magic: Louis Prima, Keely Smith, and the Golden Age of Las Vegas'', By Tom Clavi]
Page 107
/ref> To make Lou's surname easier to pronounce, Prima shortened the name from Scioneaux to Sino. While a member of Prima's band, he was described as the rubber-faced trombonist, and in a '' Billboard'' article as looking like an ultra-conservative bank clerk.
Sino was also a member of The Witnesses that backed In a review of the ''Big Horn'' album by Sam Butera & The Witnesses that appeared in the October 20, 1958 edition of ''Billboard'', Sino's trombone playing was noted on the tracks, "La Vie En Rose", "Hey There", and "Three Coins In The Fountain" [''Billboard'', October 20, 195]
Page 21 ''The Billboard's Music Popularity Charts ... PACKAGED RECORDS, THE BIG HORN, Sam Butera & The Witnesses Capitol T 1098
/ref>
In 1959, according to ''Down Beat'' magazine, the line-up of Prima's band was Sino (referred to there as Scioneaux) on trombone, Bobby Roberts on guitar, John Nagy on piano, Rolly De Orio on bass, and Paul Ferrara on drums. He stayed with Prima's group until 1967 which marked ten years with them.[
In 1967, Sino was again a member of The Witnesses, in a line up that included Sam Butera on vocals and tenor sax, Bobby Setzler on guitar, John Nagy on piano, Jimmy Vincent on drums, Rolly Dee on vocal and string bass, and Morgan Thomas on alto sax, valve trombone and flute.
]
1968 onwards
By 1970, Sino was fronting his group, Lou Sino and the Bengals.[''Billboard'', December 5, 197]
Page 46 ''Muscle Shoals Honors W.C. Handy''
/ref> Their signature song was "Tiger Rag
"Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard that was recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions. In 2003, the 1918 recording of "Tiger Rag" was entered into the U.S. Library of Cong ...
".[ In November 1970, along with the Ronnioe Cole Trio, Maxine Sullivan and Eubie Blake, Sino and his group, Lou Sino and the Bengals played at a concert in honor of W.C. Handy in Muscle Shoals.][ Sino and his band the Bengals were a popular host band in New Orleans. They played the Crossroads Convention in 1976.
Sino's last years were spent playing with the Bengals, playing in the French Quarter of New Orleans. he played at venues such as the playing at the Mason Bourbon and at the Economy Hall in the Royal Sonesta Hotel up until 1986 which is when he died.][
]
Recordings
Solo and as bandleader
;Albums
* Lou Sino - ''Now'' - Bengal Records LS-110973 - 1973
* Lou Sino - ''a Jazzman Comes Home'' - L.S.I. LPS-145
* Lou Sino And The Bengals - ''Hold That Tiger'' - Maison Bourbon Records – MB-11
* Lou Sino with Rene Netto and the Bengals - ''Give Me that Old and New Time Religion '' - Harvey, LA : L.S.I. - (unknown year)
;Singles
* Lou Sino - "She's Got To Be A Saint" / " Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around The Ole Oak Tree" - Bengal 112873
In groups
* Sam Butera & The Witnesses - ''The Big Horn'' - Capitol T 1098 - 1958
Backing
* Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
Meets Sam Butera & The Witnesses - ''When the Feeling Hits You!
''When the Feeling Hits You!'' is a 1965 studio album by Sammy Davis Jr., featuring Sam Butera and the Witnesses.
Background
The album was released on the Reprise label, catalogue number RS 6144.DiscogSammy Davis* Meets Sam Butera & The Witnes ...
'' - Reprise
In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repe ...
RS 6144 - 1965[Discog]
Sammy Davis* Meets Sam Butera & The Witnesses* – When The Feeling Hits You
/ref> (as a member of The Witnesses)
Presenting
* Rene Netto - Lou Sino Presents ''The Sounds of Rene Netto'' - L.S.I LPS-144
(Note: some versions of the album have L.S.I. Presents the Sounds of Rene Netto)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sino, Lou
Musicians from Louisiana
Male trombonists
American jazz trombonists
Jazz musicians from New Orleans
20th-century American musicians
1930 births
1986 deaths
20th-century trombonists
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians