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Louis Stewart

LOUIS THE FIRST

Livia Records
Release Date: February 23, 2024

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1 ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE (Kern/Hammerstein)  
2 BLUESOLOGY (Jackson)  
3 BODY AND SOUL (Green/Haymen/Sour/Eyton/Laub)  
4 SEND IN THE CLOWNS (Sondheim)  
5 O GRANDE AMOR (Jobim)  
6 HERE IS THAT RAINY DAY (Van Heusen)  
7 ALONE TOGETHER (Dietz/Schwartz)  
8 AUTUMN LEAVES (Kasma/Mercer)  
9 FOOTPRINTS (Wayne Shorter)  
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Louis The First was released on Hawk Records, a local showband label. Following its success, the album’s producer, Gerald Davis, set up Livia Records, Ireland’s first jazz label, in 1977. Gerald, a Dublin painter, arts polymath, creative entrepreneur, and friend of Louis, based the label’s name on Anna Livia Plurabelle, a character from literary giant, James Joyce’s novel, Finnegans Wake.

Other Livia releases followed, each featuring Louis in different line ups: duos and small to medium size groups, and including Alone Together with flautist Brian Dunning, Spondance with Jim Doherty and Super Session with fellow guitarist Martin Taylor, plus other previously unreleased recordings.

Livia closed following Gerald’s death in 2005. With his family’s support, Dermot Rogers started a    reactivation project in 2021 that led to this release* and has unearthed a wealth of other live and studio recordings that are intended for future releases.
*(Out On His Own and Some Other Blues were released on Livia Records in 2023)

  • Harmonious World chats about Louis Stewart's 'Louis The First' with Livia Records producer: Dermot Rogers
    Posted At: July 15, 2024 12:00 AM
    The long-awaited re-release of guitar genius Louis Stewart’s 1976 debut as a leader was beautifully remastered. This edition allows listeners to fully appreciate Louis “on fire” with its improved mix and the bonus track, Wayne Shorter’s Footprints. Louis the First features nine tracks - five trio, one bass-guitar duet, and three solo guitar that point to the magic of his solo masterpiece, Out On His Own (19...
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  • 'Louis The First.' If only Louis Stewart had received the support his pre-eminence demanded / Jazz Journal
    Posted At: April 30, 2024 12:00 AM
    Jazz Journal writes….Louis The First, the Irish master’s first album, compares with his solo masterpiece Out On His Own, from the following year (1977). On repeated listening, I’d say it’s equal. The album features an excellent bassist and drummer in Martin Walsh and John Wadham, previously unknown to me. There are five trio tracks, one bass/guitar duet and three solo guitar tracks, recorded in Dublin in 19...
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  • With stimulating and steady support, Louis Stewart is quite dazzling throughout 'Louis The First' / LA Jazz Scene
    Posted At: April 11, 2024 12:00 AM
    Louis The First was released on Hawk Records, a local showband label. Following its success, the album’s producer, Gerald Davis, set up Livia Records, Ireland’s first jazz label, in 1977. Gerald, a Dublin painter, arts polymath, creative entrepreneur, and friend of Louis, based the label’s name on Anna Livia Plurabelle, a character from literary giant, James Joyce’s novel, Finnegans Wake. Other Livia releas...
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  • Louis Stewart's 'Out On His Own' is a landmark solo guitar recording / All About Jazz
    Posted At: January 5, 2024 12:00 AM
    Livia Records release of a newly re-mastered edition of Louis Stewart’s milestone and solo album, “Out On His Own” is the re-release from 1977 on LP and cassette and on CD in 1995. This new edition includes 3 previously unreleased tracks along with a 16-page booklet with several previously unseen photographs.“Out On His Own” is a fitting title for Louis Stewart as he is perhaps the only Irish jazz musician ...
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  • You wont want to miss: Louis Stewart - Out on His Own / JazzProfiles
    Posted At: April 3, 2023 12:00 AM
    Although Louis was based in Ireland for much of his career, I had the pleasure of hearing him in person in 1996 when he appeared as a member of pianist George Shearing’s newly reformed quintet at the San Francisco Jazz Festival along with vibraphonist Steve Nelson, bassist Neil Swainson and drummer Dennis Mackrel.I had heard Louis a couple of years earlier when, after a 20 year hiatus, George recorded this ...
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  • Louis Stewart's 'Out On His Own' is not an album to be listened to casually and not just for guitar buffs / JAZZ VIEWS
    Posted At: March 2, 2023 12:00 AM
    JAZZ VIEWS - Nick Lea writes……Not an album to be listened to casually, and yet not just for guitar buffs only, but a lovely record that deserves to be listened to carefully and with attention to detail. In doing so the listener can delight in the way Stewart assembles not just his solos, but also his accompanying rhythm tracks. By doing so even the non-musicians among us are given a glimpse into the process...
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  • Louis Stewart: An Irish jazz genius on a par with Seamus Heaney and Samuel Beckett / THE IRISH TIMES
    Posted At: February 21, 2023 12:00 AM
    The jazz guitarist’s finest album, Out on his Own, is being reissued this week. It’s astoundingTHE IRISH TIMES - Cormac Larkin writes….Though it was recorded relatively early in what would be a long and illustrious career, it’s hard to think of a more appropriate title for Louis Stewart’s great solo masterpiece, which is re-released this week on the reborn Livia label. Almost from the very beginning of his ...
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