Claude Luter

Claude Luter (1923-2006) was a French jazz musician and bandleader, playing clarinet (and sometimes soprano sax). Luter was born in Paris on 23rd July 1923, the son of a professional pianist. After learning to play the piano from his father, in his teens he started playing clarinet. He started studying naval architecture, but gave up his studies to pursue his musical career. He took clarinet lessons, and haunted the Parisian jazz scene, meeting and playing with many of the prominent musicians of the time. Luter started his own band in 1946 with a residency at the Club Lorientais, but the club closed two years later (because of fire regulations), and the band moved to the Vieux Colombier, popular with intellectuals and students. In 1948 he played at the first Nice jazz festival, and met and became friends with Barney Bigard, the clarinettist with Louis Armstrong; the two later performed and recorded together. In 1949 he met Sidney Bechet, who became one of his major influences; Bechet sat in with Luter's band at the Vieux Colombier, and when he settled in France he continued his association with Luter -- an association that helped to popularise jazz and to make Luter's name. Luter went on to visit New Orleans on a number of occasions, taking part in the centenary celebrations of Bechet's birth, and recording. Luter died after a fall on 6th October 2006.