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Eddy Louiss (1941–2015)

French jazz organist, singer and pianist — born Édouard Louise in Paris on 2 May 1941 (the family name was changed from Louise to Louiss by his father Pierre, a trumpeter), died in Poitiers on 30 June 2015. Of Martinican ancestry, he is one of the great European voices on the Hammond organ: a fixture of French jazz who was, as Le Monde put it, "Tout le swing du monde dans l'orgue Hammond"^[raw/articles/wikipedia-eddy-louiss.md] — the beloved French counterpart to the American soul-jazz school of jimmy-smith and jimmy-mcgriff.

Career

  • 1950s–60s: studied trumpet and piano; played in his father's orchestra and in Paris clubs. As a singer, a member of Les Double Six of Paris (1961–1963) with Mimi Perrin, Ward Swingle and Christiane Legrand; during this period the organ became his primary instrument.^[raw/articles/wikipedia-eddy-louiss.md]
  • 1964: Prix Django Reinhardt.^[raw/articles/wikipedia-eddy-louiss.md]
  • 1964–1977: 13 years as accompanist to Claude Nougaro — the partnership that made him a household name in France — before leaving (a decision his son described as "not that easy") for a solo career.^[raw/articles/wikipedia-eddy-louiss.md]
  • Jazz collaborations: Kenny Clarke, René Thomas, Johnny Griffin, Art Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie, Barney Kessel, Jean-Luc Ponty, John Surman, Stéphane Grappelli. In 1971 he was in the Stan Getz quartet (with René Thomas and Bernard Lubat) recording Dynasty (Verve, 1971).^[raw/articles/wikipedia-eddy-louiss.md]
  • Led his own big band, Multicolor Feeling / Multicolor Feeling Fanfare (1989–), touring Europe; celebrated 50 years of career at the Olympia in 2010 with a reborn 60-musician Fanfare.^[raw/articles/wikipedia-eddy-louiss.md]
  • Duo recordings with Michel Petrucciani (Conférence de presse, 1994 — Victoires du jazz 1995) and accordionist Richard Galliano (Face to Face, 2001). Later work (Sang mêlé, Wébé, Récit proche) mixed jazz with rock, world music and electronics.^[raw/articles/wikipedia-eddy-louiss.md]
  • Health struggles: arterial complications of diabetes led to an amputation (en-Wiki: left leg, early 1990s; fr-Wiki: left foot, 2006 — see contradiction note), after which he appeared rarely; a 2009 boxed set (D'un jour à l'autre) marked his return.^[raw/articles/wikipedia-eddy-louiss.md]

Contradictions

  • Amputation date/extent: en-Wikipedia says left leg amputated in the early 1990s; fr-Wikipedia says amputated of the left foot in 2006 (Jazz in Marciac, August 2006) with a long rehabilitation. Flagged for review; the French source is more detailed and dated.

Signature organ albums

  • Eddy Louiss orgue vols. 1 & 2 (America, 1972) with Kenny Clarke, Jimmy Gourley, Guy Pedersen — pure Hammond trio dates
  • Bohemia After Dark (1973)
  • Sang mêlé (1987), Multicolor Feeling Fanfare (1989)

Like Brian Auger, Louiss shows how thoroughly the Smith-rooted organ style took root in continental Europe in the 1960s — while Jon Lord carried it into British rock.