- Bill Stewart (musician)
William Harris "Bill" Stewart (born
October 18 1966 ,Des Moines ,Iowa ) is an American jazz drummer. Stewart is a versatile player who has performed with a broad array of musicians, fromMaceo Parker to Jim Hall. He is also an active composer, whose distinctive tunes, which might be categorized as "postmodern" jazz tunes, appear on his, and others', records.Biography
Bill Stewart's father was a trombonist, and his first and middle names are a tribute to jazz trombonist Bill Harris.
Stewart grew up in
Des Moines, Iowa listening to his parents'jazz andrhythm and blues records without much exposure to live jazz in the then relatively isolated state ofIowa . The largely self-taught drummer began playing at the age of seven. While inhigh school , he played in aTop 40 cover band and the schoolorchestra , and went to a summer music camp atStanford Jazz Workshop where he met jazz legendDizzy Gillespie . After high school graduation, Stewart attended theUniversity of Northern Iowa inCedar Falls, Iowa , playing in the jazz andmarching band s as well as theorchestra . He then transferred toWilliam Paterson University (then William Paterson College), where he played in ensembles directed by Rufus Reid, studied drums with Eliot Zigmund and Horacee Arnold and took composition lessons from Dave Samuels. The young drummer met future employerJoe Lovano while still in college (the two playedduets in lieu of a drum lesson when Zigmund was away). He also made his first recordings, with saxophonist Scott Kreitzer, pianist Armen Donelian, while still in school, and with pianistFranck Amsallem (withGary Peacock on bass) in 1990.After college, Stewart moved to
New York where he quickly built his reputation, first gaining wider recognition inJohn Scofield 's quartet and in a trio withLarry Goldings and Peter Bernstein, which has become the longest running group Stewart has played with, having begun in 1989 and continuing to this day, however infrequently the group may be found in performance. Stewart's musical horizons expanded when legendaryfunk saxophonist Maceo Parker tapped the budding drummer upon seeing him withLarry Goldings at a regular gig at a club inManhattan . Stewart worked with Parker from 1990 to 1991, touring and recording on three of Parker's albums. The association led to Stewart's memorable gig with the great James Brown, who told Stewart that there "Ain't no funk in Iowa!" upon learning the drummer's roots. Musical associations withLee Konitz ,Michael Brecker ,Pat Metheny and many other notable jazz musicians have followed.Musical style
As a drummer, Bill Stewart's playing is distinguished by its melodic focus, and its polyrhythmic, or layered, character. To say his playing is "melodic" means there is a sense in which one can "hum along" to his solos, as there is a clear sense of melodic construction. His improvisations favor the development and layering of motivic ideas over the raw generation of excitement or display of technical prowess. Stewart has great touch, or dynamic precision, so that his ideas are articulated with a pleasing exactness and clarity. He has also achieved a very high degree of independence of his limbs, so that not only the ride and the snare/toms, but also the bass drum and hi-hat, are free to participate as melodic "first-class citizens." His drumming bears the influence of various melodic drummers who preceded him, including
Max Roach ,Art Blakey ,Roy Haynes ,Tony Williams ,Jack DeJohnette andAl Foster .As a composer, Bill Stewart is forward-looking, and seems not to want to repeat what others have already accomplished. In other words, his tunes have a bit of an avant-garde flavor. The melodies, harmonies, phrase lengths, and measure lengths are often altered so as not to conform too closely to traditional jazz language. Some of his tunes (such as "Mayberry") also feature a built-in "free blowing" section, surrounded by a composed "head" (in the case of "Mayberry", a parody of the theme song of the
Andy Griffith Show .) The concept of "Mayberry" may have been borrowed from Stewart's long-time collaboratorJohn Scofield , who has written many tunes of the same general shape.As a leader
Stewart has a considerable output as a leader, beginning with
1989 's "Think Before You Think ", withbassist Dave Holland ,pianist Marc Cohen, and saxophonistJoe Lovano , on which the drummer led a session of originals and standards, including one of his own compositions.In his next outing as a leader, Stewart assembled
trumpeter Eddie Henderson, saxophonist Lovano, pianist Bill Carrothers and bassistLarry Grenadier for an entire record of Stewart compositions, "Snide Remarks", which was chosen as one of the top ten jazzCD s of the year by Peter Watrous of theNew York Times .The second Blue Note album to be released under Stewart's name was
1997 's "Telepathy ", featuring Carrothers and Grenadier along with saxophonists Steve Wilson and Seamus Blake.In 2005, the Bill Stewart Trio, with
Kevin Hays andLarry Goldings , released "Keynote Speakers ". The ensemble is a twist on the usual organ-guitar-drum trio, where a second keyboard (variouslypiano ,Fender Rhodes , and other keyboard instruments) is added to the organ-drum foundation.Stewart's recordings all have a certain unique blend of playfulness and mystery propelled by his thoughtful drumming and equally melodic and rhythmic compositional style. Stewart has said that he thinks it very important to find an interesting combination of musicians whose abilities will complement each other and who will sound at home on the compositions slated for the given session.
Other
Stewart recently completed a creative collaboration with the
Avedis Zildjian Company in developing the Special Dry ComplexRide cymbal , which is meant to replicate the sound of an oldK. Zildjian cymbal Stewart has had for a long time. Stewart says of the new cymbals, " [They] are very pretty, yet can be very nasty."External links
* [http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Bill_Stewart.html Drummerworld] - Bill Stewart's Drummerworld Page
* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/iviews/bstewart2002.htm 2002 AllAboutJazz] - 2002 Interview with Bill Stewart on AllAboutJazz.com
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