This is Marco Palos, a great saxophone player with Louie Prima and The Witnesses. Louie and his band appeared several times on the floating stage in Bemus Point. Their signature closing number was always When the Saints Go Marching In. They played it while coming off the floating stage through the audience and back onto the floating stage without missing a musical beat during that entire route. It sure got the crowd involved with what is called .. audience participation!
Marco is known as "The Sax Machine" in the entertainment world. HIS -TORY is that Marco was born in the heart of Los Angeles. He came into a music loving famiy and grew up listening to a variety of classic music from the 1920's all the way to the 60's. He first started playing music at the age of 4. As the years passed he learned to play the keyboard and guitar though it was when Marco was in the 5th grade that an elementary school crush inspired him to play the saxophone. He wanted to start playing right away, but his parents needed to save up in order to buy him his first saxophone. Marco learned how to play the French Horn in the first months of 6th grade though 4 months into the 6th grade, Marco received a giant brown box from the UPS man. Inside he found his first saxophone .. a Yamaha YAS-23. From the moment he put it together and played it for the very first time he was able to play along with The Glenn Miller Orchestra on his favorite AM radio station Stardust 910. His notes weren't always spot on, but he gave it his best and was determined to play like these musicians one day. The very next day he gladly carried that wretched French Horn case to school for the very last time. It was the start of a beautifiul relationship with his Yamaha saxophone.
Hours were spent learning songs by Stevie Wonder; Earth, Wind and Fire and Tower of Power. In 2002 after attending a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert, inspiration struck young Marco. Later that Fall he became one of the founding members of Phat Cat Swinger, a 9 piece swing band. The rest is history!
When asked about his favorite memories in music, Marco says being invited to play the Playboy Mansion in 2009 with Phat Cat Swinger and his first New Orleans trip with Louie Prima and The Witnesses are among his favorite memories. Marco is also an entertainer at Disneyland. The above photo features Marco at Disneyland with the face of Mickey Mouse looking over his shoulder.
"I feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to make and share music with people on a daily basis. As long as I can keep making people smile and help them escape to a happier place, I will keep on performing 'til my body no longer lets me stand."
www.MarcoOnSax.com
www.facebook.com/marcoonsax
www.instagram.com/marcoonsax
Louie Prima, Jr. is a Las Vegas based entertainer, singer and songwriter. He bridges the music gap between swing and rock eras. Many years after Louie Prima, Sr. died his son revitalized the legacy with a reimaging of his music.
Born 4 days before Father's Day in 1965 Louie, Jr. is the youngest child and only son of musician and entertainer, Louis Prima. Gia Maione began performing with her husband in 1962. Through the years Louie, Jr. shared the stage with his father starting at the age of 5 at the Sands Hotel on the Vegas strip. Audiences could hear the announcer say, "and now, the man who plays pretty for the people...Louie Prima!"
Louie, Jr. grew up on the outskirts of Vegas on his dad's golf course, Fairway to the Stars and spent 2 summers at his grandparent's home in Toms River NJ. Louie's grandfather, Tom Maione, owned the Red Top Bar on the boardwalk at Seaside Heights NJ.
The early 70's saw the Vegas landscape changing and Sr. took a residency in New Orleans moving the family with him. It was there that Jr. first learned to play the piano. In junior high school, he chose band as an elective and told his mother he wanted to learn to play the trumpet. He continued playing through high school and cites his band directors as major influences in his life. His high school band marched in both the Fiesta Bowl and the Sun Bowl.
On July 10, 2010 the year Louis Sr. would have turned 100 his son was present when his father was given, posthumously, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Prima, Jr. accepted the star on his father's behalf and then he "shook the pavement" as the band performed a rousing homage to his father.
An interesting fact is his band has recorded at Capitol Records in the exact same studio where his father and mother recorded. Moving the music forward as his father did the band recorded original material as well as a couple of surprises which were released on June 10, 2014.
Louie Prima, Sr. would be proud of his namesake and all that his son has accomplished by passing along a musical family legacy for all of us to enjoy including a few Sunday afternoon Pops concerts on the floating stage in Bemus Point.
Be safe.
Pat Locke
Maestro Muse
