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Louis Smith
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Louis Smith is a talented, but under recorded, straight-ahead bop trumpeter who led two dates in the '50s before retiring to teach at the University of Michigan and the nearby Ann Arbor Public School system. For most of his career, he remained a teacher, making a brief comeback in the late '70s before returning to education. It wasn't until the mid-'90s that he began a recording career in earnest, turning out a series of albums for the Steeplechase label. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Louis Smith began playing trumpet as a teenager. He graduated high school with a scholarship to Tennessee State University, where he studied music and became a member of the Tennessee State Collegians. Folllowing his college graduation, Smith did a little graduate work at Tennessee before transferring to the University of Michigan, where he studied with professor Clifford Lillya. At Michigan, he had opportunities to play with traveling musicians, including Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. In January 1954, Smith was drafted into the Army, spending a little over a year and a half in his tour of duty. Once he left the Army in late 1955, he began teaching at the Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, Georgia. While teaching at Booker T. Washington, Smith continued playing bop and hard bop in clubs, and was able to jam with Cannaonball Adderley, Kenny Dorham, Donald Byrd, Lou Donaldson, Zoot Sims and Philly Joe Jones, among many others. In 1956, he made his recording debut as a sideman on Kenny Burrell's Swingin'. A year later, he had the opportunity to lead his own recording session for Tom Wilson's Boston-based label, Transition. He assembled a quintet featuring Cannonball Adderley (who performed under the pseudonym Buckshot La Funke), bassist Doug Watkins, drummer Art Taylor and pianists Duke Jordan and Tommy Flanagan, who alternated on the date. Transition went out of business before the label had the chance to release the record. Blue Note chief Alfred Lion purchased all the Transition masters and signed Smith to an exclusive contract, releasing the session as Here Comes Louis Smith. During 1958, the trumpeter played on two Blue Note sessions—Kenny Burrell's Blue Lights and Booker Little's Booker Little 4 and Max Roach—in addition to leading the date that became Smithville. That brief burst of activity turned out to be his only recording dates for 20 years. Smith moved back to the Ann Arbor, Michigan area, where he taught at the University of Michigan and public schools. Between 1978 and 1979, he cut a pair of albums — Just Friends and Prancis'—before returning to teaching. A decade later, Smith began his recording career in earnest. After playing on Mickey Turner's Sweet Lotus Lips in 1989, he signed with Steeplechase and recorded Ballads for Lulu in 1990. He didn't return to the studio for another four years, but he did record two albums — Silvering and Strike up the Band — in 1994. The Very Thought of You appeared in 1995. A year later, Smith recorded I Waited for You, which was followed by There Goes My Heart in 1997. - AMG. Louis Smith had a stroke in 2005. SEMJA has published bulletins every now and then about his recovery. Louis has been working to regain his ability to speak with the help of several types of therapies. One of the more successful is music therapy, which he has been involved with for almost a year. Lars Bjorn, SEMJA President, recently had a chance to visit with Louis at one of his sessions at the University of Michigan Residential Aphasia Program and came away amazed at the ability of music to bring back some of Louis' lost skills. Louis' progress is no doubt due to his hard work; his previous musical ability; the skills of his musical therapist, Lynn Chenoweth, who sees him in one-on-one and group sessions; and the constant support provided by his wife Lulu.
Brian Lynch: Con Clave Vol.2
by C. Andrew Hovan
The jazz musician's road to success and sustainability is a rocky one, marked with more than its share of ups and downs. Becoming the norm as of late, those with the strongest staying power have increased their flexibility by becoming more diverse in their efforts. The affect is thus twofold-providing an income to pay the rent, ...
Why Jazz?
by Dom Minasi
This is my first All About Jazz article since 2015. So much has happened to the world around us. I've been thinking a lot lately about my career choice and why I chose jazz and I wanted to hear why some of the best chose to devote themselves to a career in jazz. Here are their ...
Louis Hayes: Serenade for Horace
by Victor L. Schermer
This gem of a tribute album is, in the words of the poet Wordsworth, a “recollection in tranquility" conceived and led by drummer Louis Hayes in memory of his beloved lifelong friend, pianist Horace Silver. In 1956, Silver invited Hayes to New York City from his native Detroit to join the Horace Silver Quintet, which produced ...
Meet Luis Torregrosa
by Tessa Souter and Andrea Wolper
Dr. Luis Torregrosa has been a Super Fan for as long as he can remember; you could even say his love of music is no less than a calling. Based in Trenton, MI (our first Super Fan outside of New York!), Luis has spent the last 45 years of his life not only enjoying the music ...
Louis Smith: Here Comes Louis Smith – 1957
by Marc Davis
I'm not a musical snob. I'm not a guy to drop obscure musical names to impress friends and hipsters. But when I come across a name that is undeservedly obscure, I don't mind shouting it out the window. So here's my shout for today: Louis Smith! Chances are you've never heard of ...
Kenny Burrell: Blue Lights – 1958
by Marc Davis
The name on the cover is Kenny Burrell, but Blue Lights isn't really a Kenny Burrell album. He may be the leader, but the stars are everyone else. This is truly a democratic 1950s jam session. I came to Blue Lights fresh from Burrell's Midnight Blue, expecting another laid-back blues guitar vehicle. Not even ...
Louis Smith: Smithville – Blue Note 1594
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by Marc Davis
Sometimes, thumbing through the old Blue Note catalogue, you wish for something brand new. Something not the usual Jimmy Smith--Lee Morgan--Lou Donaldson--Horace Silver. And then you find it and wonder, “Who is this guy? And what ever happened to him?" Louis Smith is that guy. The trumpeter recorded exactly two Blue Note ...
The Healing Power of Music: Can Jazz Repair a Damaged Brain? The case of trumpeter Louis Smith
by Hrayr Attarian
The title above is not an abstract statement or a philosophical question. Hence, what follows is not a speculative or metaphysical piece. It is an evaluation of the concrete, experimental data on the merits of music therapy in the treatment of brain injury, particularly one due to a stroke. A stroke or a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) ...
Music Matters slows it down
by Greg Simmons
Music Matters is pulling a fast one. For the past several years they've been hawking a series of reissues of the classic Blue Note Records catalogue of the 1950s and 60s. The defining features of this series have been that they've all been re-mastered from the original session tapes by mastering guru Kevin Gray and, in ...
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