Luter suffered complications after a fall and died Friday at a hospital outside Paris, his son, Eric, said. A trumpeter who later took up the clarinet and saxophone, Mr. Luter met Louis Armstrong at the Nice Jazz Festival in 1948.
The following year, he began accompanying Sidney Bechet, like Armstrong one of the fathers of New Orleans jazz. As recently as 2005, Mr. Luter played twice a month at a Paris club, the Petit Journal, and had dreams of returning to the jazz scene shortly before he died, his son said.
Mr. Luter held a rehearsal with his band, Claude Luter and his Orchestra, in September, his son said. Born July 23, 1923, in Paris, Mr.
Luter discovered jazz in his adolescence and built his reputation at private gatherings during World War II. Mr. Luter's popularity surged after the war as France discovered jazz.
His band, the Lorientaise, charmed Paris' intellectual elite. Mr. Luter played in clubs around the world.
He took part in a tribute to Bechet in 1997 in New Orleans and attended a 1970 tribute to Armstrong in Los Angeles. Mr. Luter's last public appearance was in September, when he attended a ceremony at the Culture Ministry where a model of New Orleans was given to Paris, his son said.
Mr. Luter also is survived by a daughter, Isabelle.
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