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Louis Stewart

Louis Stewart began his musical career in the sixties as a member of the Dublin jazz scene. In 1968 he received an invitation to the Montreux Jazz Festival together with the Jim Doherty Quartet. He came away with the pressaward for "Outstanding European Soloist of the Festival". The following year—again in Montreux—he won the "Grand Prix de la Radio Suisse Romande". He turned down a scholarship from the Berklee School of Music, Boston, because at the time he was with Tubby Hayes' Quartet and Big Band and had been engaged by Benny Goodman for three European tours.

In the 70s Louis Stewart was a member of the "Ronnie Scott Quartet" in London. During this period he also cut albums with Sam Jones and Billy Higgins as well as other musicians from the London scene.

His excellent guitar playing with Scott’s quartet, on his solo and duo albums in the 1970 and 1980s, and on recordings with George Shearing, Clark Terry, Martin Taylor, Heiner Franz and others in recent years has earned him a well-deserved reputation as one of the world’s foremost jazz guitarists.

A brilliant sound allied to a crystal-clear tone has helped to make Stewart one of the outstanding guitarists in history of jazz. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Trinty College Dublin in 1998.

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29
Building a Jazz Library

Louis Stewart's Out On His Own: A Landmark Solo Guitar Recording

Read "Louis Stewart's Out On His Own: A Landmark Solo Guitar Recording" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Dublin's finest export? Not Guinness, but Irish jazz guitarist Louis Stewart (January 5, 1944--August 20, 2016). A guitarist of tremendous skill, invention and personality, Stewart was certainly the first world-class jazz musician to emerge from Ireland and make a name on the international stage. During a fifty-plus-year career, Stewart played with Benny Goodman, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry, Tubby Hayes, Joe Williams, J.J. Johnson, George Shearing, James Moody and fellow six-string maestro Martin Taylor. Not bad for a ...

12
Album Review

Louis Stewart & Noel Kelehan: Some Other Blues

Read "Some Other Blues" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Hot on the heels of the reissue of Louis Stewart's seminal 1977 album Out On His Own (Liva Records, 2023)--one of the great solo jazz guitar albums--the revitalized label inspired by the Dublin guitarist launches another gem from its treasure trove of archival recordings. Previously unreleased, Some Other Blues captures Stewart in a duo setting with pianist Noel Kelehan, an important figure on the Irish jazz scene who mostly flew under the radar. It is something of a ...

22
Album Review

Louis Stewart: Out On His Own

Read "Out On His Own" reviewed by Ian Patterson


In his lifetime, Irish guitarist Louis Stewart was probably more celebrated abroad than at home, winning the Best Soloist prize at Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968, playing in the house band at Ronnie Scott's and touring with Benny Goodman, J.J. Johnson and George Shearing. His third album, his extraordinary solo opus Out On His Own, was released in 1977 on Gerald Davis' Livia Records. The label folded upon Davis' passing in 2005, but thanks to Dermot Rogers the label and ...

4
Album Review

Louis Stewart & Jim Doherty: Tunes

Read "Tunes" reviewed by Ian Patterson


It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was a good idea at the time. Ireland's best known jazz musicians, guitarist Louis Stewart and pianist Jim Doherty have played together since the days of the famous Irish show bands in the early 1960s and have recorded together on numerous projects, but the idea to record a duo album of the jazz standards they cherish has taken fifty years to move from seed to fruition. The simply titled Tunes ...

177
Album Review

Louis Stewart / Egil Kapstad / Terje Venaas / Eyvind Olsen: Core Business

Read "Core Business" reviewed by Bev Stapleton


Given that music is one of Ireland's principal exports--be it rock from Van Morrison to U2, or the folk music that has found legions of followers across the globe--it's striking that there are so few international Irish jazz stars. Maybe the “craic" (and the porter) at those traditional sessions is so good that there's little incentive to lock yourself away learning jazz changes!The major exception, of course, is guitarist Louis Stewart, a veteran of the '60s Irish jazz ...

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1

Recording

Louis Stewart: Out on His Own

Louis Stewart: Out on His Own

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

One of my favorite jazz guitar albums has been reissued. Out on His Own was recorded by Irish guitarist Louis Stewart in Bray, Ireland, between November 1976 and January 1977. Instead of one Louis, you get two. It's a solo album but he accompanies himself by overdubbing on eight of the album's original 13 tracks. The reissue, by Livia Records, has been remastered and includes six bonus tracks and a fabulous 16-page booklet. Oliver Dowling, a friend in Dublin, knew ...

6

Recording

Landmark Album From Jazz Guitar Legend Louis Stewart Re-Issued

Landmark Album From Jazz Guitar Legend Louis Stewart Re-Issued

Source: Dermot Rogers

Out on His Own, the 1977 solo album by Louis Stewart—Ireland’s major contribution to world class jazz guitar playing—is to be reissued on the reactivated Livia Records on February 24. Recorded when Stewart was playing at his formidable peak and alternating between touring with saxophonist and legendary jazz club owner Ronnie Scott and making trips back to play in packed Dublin clubs bars, Out on His Own is aptly named. Tracks feature Stewart playing alone and to his own rhythm ...

2

Video / DVD

Videos: Irish Jazz Guitar

Videos: Irish Jazz Guitar

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

The dean of the jazz guitar in Ireland was the late Louis Stewart. Ireland has a special place in its heart for the jazz guitar that probably has a lot to do with the music's poetry and the intimate relationship artists seem to have with the instrument, especially on ballads. Here are a handful of Irish jazz guitarists I found on YouTube... Here's Louis Stewart with the Phil Ware Trio playing Four... Here's Hugh Buckley... Here's Buckley in action... Here's ...

138

Performance / Tour

Performance: Louis Stewart and Gay McIntyre Play University of Ulster on 6 & 7 October

Performance: Louis Stewart and Gay McIntyre Play University of Ulster on 6 & 7 October

Source: All About Jazz

Two of Ireland’s most renowned jazz musicians team up to take part in the University of Ulster’s Autumn Lunchtime Concert Series on Monday 6 & 7 October. Louis Stewart, recognised internationally as one of the world’s finest jazz guitarists, will join forces with saxophonist Gay McIntyre to perform at both the Coleraine and Magee campuses. Louis Stewart began playing on the Dublin jazz scene in the ‘sixties and quickly established a reputation for himself at home and abroad. He was ...

"Extraordinary high levels of focused, deep, creative playing... he must be considered one of the instruments’ world class players." —Downbeat Magazine

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Out On His Own

Livia Records
2023

buy

Some Other Blues

Livia Records
2023

buy

Tunes

Beechpark Records
2013

buy

Core Business

Villa Records
2005

buy

Gift

Ashbrown Productions
2000

buy

Overdrive

Label Bleu
1994

buy

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