Lou Stein (April 22, 1922 – December 11, 2002) was an American jazz pianist.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Stein joined
Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley (June 18, 1910 – May 7, 1995) was an American jazz drummer, singer, and bandleader. He played drums and later led the Major Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra in Europe. He also led the new Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1956.
...
's band in 1942.
He played with
Glenn Miller when the latter was stateside during World War II.
After the war he worked with
Charlie Ventura
Charlie Ventura (born Charles Venturo; December 2, 1916 – January 17, 1992) was an American tenor saxophonist and bandleader from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Career
During the 1940s, Ventura played saxophone for the bands o ...
(1946–47)
and became a
session musician. He performed with the
Lawson-Haggart Band,
Benny Goodman,
Sarah Vaughan, the
Sauter-Finegan Orchestra
The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra was an American swing jazz band popular in the 1950s.
The orchestra was led by Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan, who were both experienced big band arrangers. Sauter played mellophone, trumpet, and drums, and had atten ...
,
Louie Bellson,
Red Allen
Henry James "Red" Allen, Jr. (January 7, 1908 – April 17, 1967) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been claimed by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armst ...
,
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...
, and
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.
Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most ...
, and recorded as a
bandleader. In 1957 he had a U.S.
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...
hit with "Almost Paradise", which peaked at No. 31 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. His cover version of "Got a Match" made the ''Cashbox'' Top 60 in 1958. He played with
Joe Venuti from 1969 to 1972.
Discography
* ''Lou Stein Trio'' (
Brunswick, 1954)
* ''House Hop'' (
Epic, 1954)
* ''Lou Stein at Large!'' (Brunswick, 1954)
* ''Six for Kicks'' (
Jubilee
A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...
, 1954)
* ''The Lou Stein 3, 4, and 5'' (Epic, 1955)
* ''Eight for Kicks, Four for Laughs'' (Jubilee, 1956)
* ''From Broadway to Paris'' (Epic, 1956)
* ''Honky Tonk Piano'' (Mercury, 1956)
* ''Introspective 1'' (Leric, 1972)
* ''Tribute to Tatum'' (
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...
, 1976)
* ''Stompin' Em Down'' (Chiaroscuro, 1978)
* ''Lou Stein & Friends'' (World Jazz, 1980)
* ''Temple of the Gods'' (Chiaroscuro, 1980)
* ''Live at the Dome'' (Dreamstreet, 1981)
* ''Solo'' (
Audiophile
An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...
, 1984)
* ''Go Daddy!'' (Pullen Music, 1994)
As sideman
With
Louis Bellson
Louie Bellson (born Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, July 6, 1924 – February 14, 2009), often seen in sources as Louis Bellson, although he himself preferred the spelling Louie, was an American jazz drummer. He was a composer, ...
* ''
The Driving Louis Bellson
''The Driving Louis Bellson'' (also released as ''The Hawk Talks'') is an album by American jazz drummer Louis Bellson featuring performances recorded in 1955 for the Norgran label. '' (Norgran, 1955)
* ''
Let's Call It Swing'' (Verve, 1956)
* ''
Drummer's Holiday'' (Verve, 1958)
With
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...
* ''
Songs for Hip Lovers'' (Verve, 1957)
With
Lee Konitz
* ''
An Image: Lee Konitz with Strings'' (Verve, 1958)
With
Joe Newman
* ''
New Sounds in Swing
''New Sounds in Swing'' (also released as ''Byers' Guide'') is an album by jazz trumpeter Joe Newman and trombonist Billy Byers recorded in 1956 for the mail order Jazztone label. '' with
Billy Byers
William Mitchell Byers (May 1, 1927 – May 1, 1996) was an American jazz trombonist and arranger.
Early life
Byers was born in Los Angeles on May 1, 1927. He suffered from arthritis from a young age and was unable to continue his plans of a care ...
(
Jazztone
Concert Hall Society, Inc., was a New York City-based membership-subscription-oriented record production and distribution company founded in 1946 by Samuel Mulik Josefowitz (1921–2015) and David Josefowitz (1918–2015), brothers. The New York o ...
, 1956)
With
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
* ''
Big Band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
'' (
Clef
A clef (from French: 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical stave. Placing a clef on a stave assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines, which defines the pitc ...
, 1954)
With
Cootie Williams
* ''
Cootie Williams in Hi-Fi'' (RCA Victor, 1958)
Literature
*
Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.
Biography
Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...
&
Ira Gitler
Ira Gitler (December 18, 1928 – February 23, 2019) was an American jazz historian and journalist. The co-author of ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' with Leonard Feather—the most recent edition appeared in 1999—he wrote hundreds of ...
, ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. Oxford University Press: Oxford/New York 1999;
References
External links
Lou Stein recordingsat the
Discography of American Historical Recordings.
1922 births
2002 deaths
American jazz pianists
American male pianists
American session musicians
Musicians from Philadelphia
Jubilee Records artists
Brunswick Records artists
20th-century American pianists
Jazz musicians from Pennsylvania
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
New York Jazz Repertory Company members
{{US-pianist-stub