Lou Sino


Lou Sino 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. 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.

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. 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"
In 1959, according to Down Beat magazine, the line-up of Prima's band was Sino 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. Their signature song was "Tiger Rag". 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
;Singles