Edward Louis Smith (May 20, 1931 – August 20, 2016) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

er from

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...

.Feather, Leonard at The Official Cannonball Adderley web site
/ref> After graduating from Tennessee State University he attended graduate school at the University of Michigan. While studying at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, he played with visiting musicians such as

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but a ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Biography Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan, U ...

and Billy Mitchell, before going on to play with

Sonny Stitt Edward Hammond Boatner Jr. (February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982), known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/ hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of h ...

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

and Al McKibbon,

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single " Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", w ...

, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, Lou Donaldson,

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop ...

Kenny Dorham McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention or public ...

and

Zoot Sims John Haley "Zoot" Sims (October 29, 1925 – March 23, 1985) was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto (and, later, soprano) saxophone. He first gained attention in the "Four Brothers" sax section of Woody Herman's big ...

. Smith decided to forgo being a full-time musician to take a music teaching job at Atlanta's Booker T. Washington High School. During this time he continued playing jazz in clubs, eventually going on to record two albums for

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. ...

. Smith's first session as a leader, '' Here Comes Louis Smith'' (1957), originally recorded for the Boston-based Transition Records, featured

(then under contract to Mercury) playing under the pseudonym "Buckshot La Funke",

Tommy Flanagan Thomas Lee Flanagan (March 16, 1930 – November 16, 2001) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He grew up in Detroit, initially influenced by such pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole, and then by bebop musicians. ...

Duke Jordan Irving Sidney "Duke" Jordan (April 1, 1922 – August 8, 2006) was an American jazz pianist. Biography Jordan was born in New York and raised in Brooklyn where he attended Boys High School. An imaginative and gifted pianist, Jordan was a regul ...

Art Taylor Arthur S. Taylor Jr. (April 6, 1929 – February 6, 1995) was an American jazz drummer, who "helped define the sound of modern jazz drumming".Watrous, Peter (February 7, 1995)"Art Taylor, 65, Jazz Drummer Who Inspired Young Musicians" ''The Ne ...

and

Doug Watkins Douglas Watkins (March 2, 1934 – February 5, 1962) was an American jazz double bassist. He was best known for being an accompanist to various hard bop artists in the Detroit area, including Donald Byrd and Jackie McLean. Biography Watkins ...

. He also replaced Donald Byrd for Horace Silver's Live at the Newport 1958 set. His playing on the set was one of his best efforts and was described by one critic as "monstrous". He was a prolific composer and successful band director leaving Booker T. Washington to become director of the Jazz Ensemble at the

and a teacher in Ann Arbor's public school system. He later recorded for the

SteepleChase Steeplechase may refer to: * Steeplechase (horse racing), a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles * Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing ...

label. Smith suffered a stroke in 2006, and was seen occasionally enjoying live jazz in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area, but did not return to performing. His cousin Booker Little was also a trumpeter. Smith died on August 20, 2016, at age 85.Louis Smith Obituary
/ref>

Discography

As leader

* 1958: '' Here Comes Louis Smith'' ( Blue Note) * 1958: '' Smithville'' (Blue Note) * 1978: ''Just Friends'' (

, 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 Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...

*'' Swingin''' (Blue Note, 1956 el. 1980 *'' Blue Lights Volume 1'' (Blue Note, 1958) *'' Blue Lights Volume 2'' (Blue Note, 1958) With

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...

*'' Live at Newport '58'' (Blue Note, 1958 003 With Booker Little and Young Men From Memphis *''Down Home Reunion'' (United Artists, 195
Fresh Sounds 1642

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Louis 1931 births 2016 deaths American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Blue Note Records artists University of Michigan alumni American male jazz musicians