Louis Smith (musician)
Encyclopedia
Louis Smith is an American jazz trumpeter.
While studying at the University of Michigan
, he played with visiting musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie
, Miles Davis
, Thad Jones
and Billy Mitchell, before going on to play with Sonny Stitt
, Count Basie
and Al McKibbon
, Cannonball Adderley, Percy Heath
, Philly Joe Jones
, Lou Donaldson
, Donald Byrd
, Kenny Dorham
and Zoot Sims
.
He began his career with two albums for Blue Note Records
.
The first, Here Comes Louis Smith
, originally recorded for the Boston based Transition Records, featured Cannonball Adderley (then under contract to Mercury) playing under the pseudonym "Buckshot La Funke", Tommy Flanagan
, Duke Jordan
, Art Taylor
and Doug Watkins
. Smith's initial music career was brief, he became a teacher at the University of Michigan
and Ann Arbor's public school system, but later recorded for the SteepleChase
label.
His cousin Booker Little
was also a trumpeter.
With Horace Silver
While studying at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, he played with visiting musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Thad Jones
Thad Jones
Thaddeus Joseph Jones was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader.-Biography:Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a musical family of ten . Thad Jones was a self taught musician, performing professionally by the age of sixteen...
and Billy Mitchell, before going on to play with Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
and Al McKibbon
Al McKibbon
Al McKibbon was an American jazz double bassist, known for his work in bop, hard bop, and Latin jazz.In 1947, after working with Lucky Millinder, Tab Smith, J. C. Heard, and Coleman Hawkins, he replaced Ray Brown in Dizzy Gillespie's band, in which he played until 1950...
, Cannonball Adderley, Percy Heath
Percy Heath
Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother to tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975...
, Philly Joe Jones
Philly Joe Jones
Joseph Rudolph Jones was a Philadelphia-born United States jazz drummer, known as the drummer for the Miles Davis Quintet.Philly Joe Jones was often confused with another influential jazz drummer, Jo Jones...
, Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...
, Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
, Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did...
and Zoot Sims
Zoot Sims
John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano.-Biography:He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. Growing up in a performing family, Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age...
.
He began his career with two albums for Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
.
The first, Here Comes Louis Smith
Here Comes Louis Smith
Here Comes Louis Smith is the debut album by American trumpeter Louis Smith recorded in 1958 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
, originally recorded for the Boston based Transition Records, featured Cannonball Adderley (then under contract to Mercury) playing under the pseudonym "Buckshot La Funke", Tommy Flanagan
Tommy Flanagan
Thomas Lee Flanagan was an American jazz pianist born in Detroit, Michigan, particularly remembered for his work with Ella Fitzgerald...
, Duke Jordan
Duke Jordan
Irving Sidney "Duke" Jordan was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:An imaginative and gifted pianist, Jordan was a regular member of Charlie Parker's so-called "classic quintet" , featuring Miles Davis...
, Art Taylor
Art Taylor
Arthur S. Taylor, Jr. was an American jazz drummer of the hard bop school.After playing in the bands of Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy DeFranco, Bud Powell, and George Wallington from 1948 to 1957, he formed his own group, the Wailers...
and Doug Watkins
Doug Watkins
Douglas Watkins was an American hard bop jazz double bassist from Detroit.-Biography:An original member of the Jazz Messengers, he later played in Horace Silver's quintet and freelanced with Gene Ammons, Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins,...
. Smith's initial music career was brief, he became a teacher at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and Ann Arbor's public school system, but later recorded for the SteepleChase
SteepleChase Records
SteepleChase Records is a jazz record label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time...
label.
His cousin Booker Little
Booker Little
Booker Little, Jr was an American jazz trumpeter and composer.-Biography:Despite his premature death from kidney failure at the age of 23, Little made an important contribution to jazz. Stylistically, his sound is rooted in the playing of Clifford Brown, featuring crisp articulation, a burnished...
was also a trumpeter.
As Leader
- 1958: Here Comes Louis SmithHere Comes Louis SmithHere Comes Louis Smith is the debut album by American trumpeter Louis Smith recorded in 1958 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(Blue NoteBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
) - 1958: SmithvilleSmithville (album)Smithville is the second album by American trumpeter Louis Smith recorded in 1958. It was Smith's second and last album released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(Blue Note) - 1978: Just Friends (SteepleChaseSteepleChase RecordsSteepleChase Records is a jazz record label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time...
, 1978) - 1979: Prancin (SteepleChase)
- 1990: Ballads for Lulu (SteepleChase)
- 1994: Silvering (SteepleChase)
- 1994: Strike up the Band (SteepleChase)
- 1995: The Very Thought of You (SteepleChase)
- 1996: I Waited for You (SteepleChase)
- 1997: There Goes My Heart (SteepleChase)
- 2000: Once in a While (SteepleChase)
- 2000: Soon (SteepleChase)
- 2001: The Bopsmith (SteepleChase)
- 2004: Louisville (SteepleChase)
As Sideman
With Kenny BurrellKenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
- Blue Lights Volume 1 (Blue Note, 1958)
- Blue Lights Volume 2 (Blue Note, 1958)
With Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
- Live at Newport '58Live at Newport '58Live at Newport '58 is a live album by jazz pianist Horace Silver. The album was recorded on July 6, 1958 at the Newport Jazz Festival. Blue Note Records released the album in 2008. It is one of the few officially released live albums with Silver as bandleader.Producer Michael Cuscuna discovered...
(Blue Note, 1958 [2003])