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Eddy Louiss

Eddy Louiss was born Edouard Louise on May 2, 1941 in Paris, France. Born into a musical family, his father was a trumpet player, and he studied several musical instruments, including trumpet and piano. In his early teenage years Louiss played in his father's band. In the early 60s he was playing piano in various Paris nightclubs and continuing with his studies. He also sang with the French vocal group Double Six, other members of which included Roger Guérin, Ward Swingle and Christiane Legrand, the sister of Michel Legrand. Adding the organ to his array of instrumental ability, Louiss played with various jazzmen in the 60s, among them Johnny Griffin, Art Taylor , Dizzy Gillespie, and Stan Getz. In the late 60s he was with a trio led by Kenny Clarke and he also recorded with Barney Kessell. Louiss continued to play extensively throughout Europe during the 70s and into the 80s when he formed an adventurous big band, Multicolor Feeling. In the 90s he was also heard in duo with Michel Petrucciani. His latest efforts “Sentimental Feeling” and “Recit Proche” feature a wild concoction of tropical island rhythms, funky blues-rock, and big band swing. Using the Hammond B-3 Organ and an eclectic group of musicians Eddy Louiss serves up a wide variety of grooves and textures, making the trio selections echo of Dr. John and The Meters and gives the big band cuts a unique flavor that is beyond description. A very melodic player on both piano and organ, Louiss also has an intense rhythmic undercurrent to his work which adds excitement especially on mid- and up-tempo numbers.


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173
Album Review

Eddy Louiss: R

Read "R" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Having developed his own devoted following in France, Eddy Louiss attains spurts of recognition within the United States on irregular bases, usually related to his stunning appearances on albums with better-recognized names like Stan Getz or Michel Petrucciani. Fresh from his once-again original work on the 1999 Dreyfus release, Sentimental Feeling, Louiss investigates tunes with more of a world-music attitude on Récit Proche-- and as a result, amplifies the vocabulary of jazz organ.Rather than approaching music from the ...

136
Album Review

Eddy Louiss: R

Read "R" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Having developed his own devoted following in France, Eddy Louiss attains spurts of recognition within the United States on irregular bases, usually related to his stunning appearances on albums with better-recognized names like Stan Getz or Michel Petrucciani. Fresh from his once-again original work on the 1999 Dreyfus release, Sentimental Feeling, Louiss investigates tunes with more of a world-music attitude on Récit Proche-- and as a result, amplifies the vocabulary of jazz organ.Rather than approaching music from the ...

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Obituary

Eddy Louiss, 1941-2015

Eddy Louiss, 1941-2015

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Organist Eddy Louiss died on June 30 in a Paris hospital. He was 74. His long career included widely praised albums with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz and pianist Michel Petrucciani. Louiss became an organist when he was a member of the vocal group The Double Six Of Paris in the early 1960s. He quickly developed into a virtuoso on the instrument and won the Prix Django Reinhardt of the Academie du Jazz in 1964. Louiss had a long struggle with ...

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