[Dixielandjazz] Claude Luter Passes

[Steve Barbone]

October 10, 2006

Sadly,
Steve Barbone


NY Times - OCT 10, 2006 - By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Claude Luter, 83, French Jazz Artist, Dies


PARIS, Oct. 9 (Agence France-Presse) ‹ The clarinetist and bandleader Claude
Luter, who was one of the stars of the postwar Paris jazz scene and
accompanied Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong, died here on Friday. He was
83.

His death was announced by his family.

The son of a musician, Mr. Luter discovered New Orleans jazz in his teens
and began performing in Paris during the German occupation in World War II.

After the liberation he and his band became a fixture at the Lorientais, the
first of the great Latin Quarter jazz clubs that were the center of France¹s
burgeoning musical and intellectual revival.

He met Armstrong at the Nice Jazz Festival in 1948, and the next year began
a working relationship with Bechet that lasted until Bechet¹s death 10 years
later.

Regarded as one of France¹s best exponents of traditional jazz, Mr. Luter
was eclipsed by the emergence of a new generation playing bebop and free
jazz, but he continued performing until very recently.