Lou Bennett
“an organist who doesn’t play bass with his feet is no organist, but an “organ-player.”- Lou Bennett”
Lou Bennett (May 18, 1926, Philadelphia – February 10, 1997, Paris) was one of the big American Hammond organists.
Bennett first played bebop on piano, but started playing organ in 1956 after hearing Jimmy Smith. He toured the U.S. with an organ trio between 1957 and 1959, and then moved to Paris in 1960. There he became an overnight star, performed at the Blue Note and stayed for the rest of his life playing in Paris and touring in Europe. He visited Stockholm twice but only returned to US once for the 1964 Newport festival.
Here is a text about him by Rhoda R. Sampognaro, Lou Bennett and the jazz organ scene in Europe
On January 16 2026 we are proud to release the first of two complete evenings’ recordings from the legendary Golden Circle in Stockholm where he is accompanied by André Condouant on guitar and the great genius Rupert Clemendore on drums.
