Kenny Burrell Swingin'

Louis Smith was a talented, but underrecorded, straight-ahead bop trumpeter who led two dates in the '50s before retiring to teach at the University of Michigan and the nearby Ann Arbor Public School system. For most of his career, he remained a teacher, making a brief comeback in the late '70s before returning to education. It wasn't until the mid-'90s that he began a recording career in earnest, turning out a series of albums for the Steeplechase label. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Louis Smith began playing trumpet as a teenager. He graduated high school with a scholarship to Tennessee State University, where he studied music and became a member of the Tennessee State Collegians. Folllowing his college graduation, Smith did a little graduate work at Tennessee before transferring to the University of Michigan, where he studied with professor Clifford Lillya.

At one time a listener could place a CD like guitarist Mundell Lowe's A Grand Night for Swinging in the disc player and immediately date it to the 1950s. But the revival of many older styles by younger musicians like guitarist Howard Alden in the '80s and '90s has led to an overlapping of styles. This may make it difficult to match an album to a particular date, but it does help to make older styles more familiar and, thus, accessible. A Grand Night for Swinging is a nice set, featuring Lowe and a good supporting cast including pianist Billy Taylor, bassist Les Grinage, drummer Ed Thigpen, and, on three cuts, alto saxophonist Gene Quill. Known for his cooler tone and lighter touch at the time, Lowe had decided to record an album that proved he could swing a little harder.