Luther Renaldo François

Luther Renaldo François was born December 15, 1952 in Castries, St. Lucia. He attended the Methodist Infant and Primary schools and St. Mary’s College before becoming a fulltime musician. He played violin, guitar, keyboards and double bass among others before taking up the saxophone and later the flute as his main instruments. In 1977 he put on the first ever public jazz concerts in St. Lucia before spending two years at the Jamaica School of Music studying with Melba Liston, Peter Ashbourne and Cedric Brookes among others. In 1980 he did a State department with Melba Liston’s group and was musical director for St Lucia’s 1981 Carifesta presentation while working with the island’s department of culture. He has spent several years in the french islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe where he directed the West Indies Jazz Band through two CD’s while producing his and St. Lucia’s first CD called ‘Morne Dudon’ with the Caribbean Jazz Workshop Group. Returning home in 1991 he started the October Jazz festival which eventually gave way to the tourism industry’s St. Lucia Jazz Fest. Luther is highly respected as a composer/arranger, music teacher, studio musician and performer. His most recent recording is ‘Castries Underground’, released in 2008 and featuring US and Caribbean musicans

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