Quick Facts
Biography
Edward Louis Smith (May 20, 1931 – August 20, 2016) was an American jazz trumpeter from Memphis, Tennessee.
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. 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.
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.
Discography
As leader
- 1958: Here Comes Louis Smith (Blue Note)
- 1958: Smithville (Blue Note)
- 1978: Just Friends (SteepleChase, 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
- Blue Lights Volume 1 (Blue Note, 1958)
- Blue Lights Volume 2 (Blue Note, 1958)
With Horace Silver
- Live at Newport '58 (Blue Note, 1958 [2003])
With Booker Little and Young Men From Memphis
- Down Home Reunion (United Artists, 1959 Fresh Sounds 1642)