by: Keith Spera (reprinted from NOLA.com)

Lillian Boutté-l’Etienne, the jazz and gospel singer who spent decades in Europe advocating for the music of her native New Orleans, died May 23 following a long illness. She was 75.



The fourth oldest of 10 siblings, she hailed from an extended family of singers and musicians, including younger brother John Boutté and nieces Tricia "Sista Teedy" Boutté and Arsene DeLay.

She and her siblings grew up in a brick house on Derbigny Street in the Treme neighborhood. As a child, Lillian sang in a choir. Later, she would rehearse her band in the front room around the family’s century-old piano.

She earned a music therapy degree from Xavier University even as she provided backing vocals in recording studios and/or on stages for the likes of Patti LaBelle, Allen Toussaint, the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, the Pointer Sisters and James Booker.

She was her family’s trailblazer, demonstrating that a career as a professional musician was possible. She was doing hair before she spent four years starting in 1979 touring internationally with the Vernel Bagneris musical “One Mo’ Time,” which was set in the world of Black New Orleans vaudeville.

She found Europe to be especially receptive to her style of distinctly New Orleans jazz infused with gospel, rhythm & blues and other influences. In the mid-1980s, she settled in Germany, which would be her home base for nearly 30 years.

As a “New Orleans Musical Ambassador,” she toured extensively in Europe, Asia and Australia while making occasional trips back to New Orleans.

She helped connect New Orleans musicians and chefs with European festivals, introducing them to an eager audience. She organized annual music workshops for grade school and high school students in Germany, France, England and Australia, where she taught them jazz and gospel songs. The weeklong workshops often culminated in concerts to raise funds for the schools.

She was also a longtime supporter of the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic and other initiatives involved with promoting musicians’ health.

She recorded with bands in Norway and Denmark. Her extensive discography includes the 1985 album “I Sing Because I’m Happy.”

The following year, she released “A Fine Romance,” a collaboration with her husband at the time, the German saxophonist and clarinetist Thomas L'Etienne. The couple recorded numerous projects together, and he remained close to the Boutté family following their divorce.

A pair of back-to-back albums released by the Blues Beacon label, 1993’s “The Gospel Book” and 1994’s “The Jazz Book,” spoke to her two primary musical languages. Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack produced her 1996 album “But…Beautiful.”

She moved back to New Orleans in 2017. She performed locally as her health permitted, including a 2017 set at the French Quarter Festival with her band Lillian Boutte and Gumbo Zaire, which featured her niece Tanya Ellsworth Boutté.
Survivors include sisters Lolet Boutté, Lynette Boutté, Lorna Delay, Leda Blanks and Lenora Boutté-Hingle and brothers Emanuel Boutté, John Boutté and Peter Boutté.