Biography of Louis Stewart

Louis Stewart began his musical career in the sixties as a member of the Dublin jazz scene. In 1968 he received an invitation to the Montreux Jazz Festival, together with the Jim Doherty Quartet, and came away with the press award for Outstanding European Soloist of the Festival. The following year in Montreux he won the Grand Prix de la Radio Suisse Romande. He declined the offer of a scholarship from the Berklee School of Music, Boston, as at the time he was with Tubby Hayes' Quartet and Big Band and had been engaged by Benny Goodman for three European tours. In the ‘70s Louis Stewart was a member of the Ronnie Scott Quartet in London. During this period he also cut albums with Sam Jones and Billy Higgins as well as other musicians from the London scene. His excellent guitar playing with Scott’s quartet, on his solo and duo albums in the 1970s and 1980s, and on recordings with George Shearing, Clark Terry, Martin Taylor, Heiner Franz and others in recent years has earned him a well-deserved reputation and widespread consideration as “one of the instruments’ world class players" (Downbeat Magazine). In July 1998 Louis Stewart became the second musician to be conferred with a doctorate in music from Trinity College Dublin.