Louis Smith
Edward Louis Smith (May 20, 1931 – August 20, 2016) was an American jazz trumpeter from Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from Tennessee State University he attended graduate school at the University of Michigan. 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.
Also recorded as Edward Louis Smith
Louis Smith
- Born
- 1931. · Memphis.
- Died
- 2016.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- university teacher and musician.
- Fields
- jazz.
- Education
- University of Michigan.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Edward Louis Smith (May 20, 1931 – August 20, 2016) was an American jazz trumpeter from Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from Tennessee State University he attended graduate school at the University of Michigan. 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.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Louis Smith. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q445224
In this article
As leader
As leader
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. Smith's first session as a leader, Here Comes Louis Smith (1957), 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. 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 University of Michigan and a teacher in Ann Arbor's public school system. He 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.
• 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
As sideman
With Kenny Burrell • Swingin (Blue Note, 1956 [rel. 1980]) • 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)
Identity
Identity
Louis Smith is recorded with the occupation university teacher. Recorded with the occupation jazz musician. Recorded as a citizen of United States. Classed in the genre jazz.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1931
Louis Smith was born on 20 May 1931.
2016
Louis Smith died on 20 August 2016.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority record
General reference
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Identity and origins. Other recorded relations include Booker Little.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,832 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Louis SchlösserPerson
- Louis Schwizgebel-WangPerson
- Louis SclavisPerson
- Louis SilversPerson
- Louis SoutterPerson
- Louis SpohrPerson
- Louis StewartPerson
- Louis TeicherPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Louis Smith?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.