Bill Stewart (musician)

William Harris Stewart (born October 18, 1966, in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American jazz drummer. He has performed with Maceo Parker, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Lonnie Smith, Nicholas Payton, Bill Carrothers,[1] Steve Wilson, Seamus Blake, Larry Goldings and Peter Bernstein, and Jim Hall.

Bill Stewart
Denmark 2011
Background information
Birth nameWilliam Harris Stewart
Born (1966-10-18) October 18, 1966
Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
InstrumentsDrums
LabelsBlue Note
Associated actsMaceo Parker, John Scofield, Lee Konitz, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano, Peter Bernstein, Larry Goldings

Biography

Bill Stewart's father was a trombonist, and his first and middle names are a tribute to jazz trombonist Bill Harris.[2]

Stewart grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, listening to his parents' jazz and rhythm and blues records without much exposure to live jazz in the then relatively isolated state of Iowa. The largely self-taught drummer began playing at the age of seven. While in high school, he played in a Top 40 cover band and the school orchestra, and went to a summer music camp at Stanford Jazz Workshop, where he met jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie. After high school graduation, Stewart attended the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, playing in the jazz and marching bands as well as the orchestra. He then transferred to William 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 employer Joe Lovano while still in college (the two played duets in lieu of a drum lesson when Zigmund was away). Stewart also made his first recordings, with saxophonist Scott Kreitzer, and pianist Armen Donelian, while still in school, and with pianist Franck Amsallem (and Gary Peacock on bass) shortly thereafter, in 1990.

After college, Stewart moved to New York where he quickly built his reputation, first gaining wider recognition in John Scofield's quartet with pianist Michael Eckroth and bassist Ben Street[3] and in a trio with Larry 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 funk saxophonist Maceo Parker tapped the budding drummer upon seeing him with Larry Goldings at a regular gig at a club in Manhattan. Stewart worked with Parker from 1990 to 1991, touring and recording on three of Parker's albums. The association led to Stewart's gig with James Brown, who told Stewart that there "Ain't no funk in Iowa!" upon learning the drummer's roots. Another close associate is pianist Kevin Hays, with whom he performs, along with fellow WPC graduate, bassist Doug Weiss. The Kevin Hays trio has recorded five CDs and toured internationally. Musical associations with Lee Konitz, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny[3] 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 describe someone's drumming style as "melodic" would mean there is a sense that you could "hum along" with discernible linear phrases which tell pieces of a story, akin to a vocalist, pianist, or saxophonist. Stewart's 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 an exactness and clarity. He has also achieved a very high degree of independence of his limbs, so that not only the ride cymbal 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, Joe Morello, Roy Haynes, Jack DeJohnette, Paul Motian, and Al 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 collaborator John Scofield, who has written many tunes of the same general shape.

Technique

Stewart, for the most part, plays holding his sticks in a matched grip, favored by orchestral and rock players. This is in contrast to many jazz contemporaries who still prefer the traditional grip.

As a leader

Stewart has a considerable output as a leader, beginning with 1989's Think Before You Think, with bassist Dave Holland, pianist Marc Copland, and saxophonist Joe 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 bassist Larry Grenadier for an entire record of Stewart compositions, Snide Remarks, which was chosen as one of the top ten jazz CDs of the year by Peter Watrous of The New 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 and Larry Goldings, released Keynote Speakers. The ensemble is a twist on the usual organ-guitar-drum trio, where a second keyboard (variously piano, Fender Rhodes, and other keyboard instruments) is added to the organ-drum foundation. In December 2006 he recorded Incandescence with the same trio.

Stewart's recordings all have a certain blend of playfulness and mystery propelled by his drumming and 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.

Gear

Stewart plays various Zildjian K cymbals and is endorsed by the Avedis Zildjian Company. A collaboration with Paul Francis from Zildjian yielded the 22" K Custom Special Dry Complex Rides (in Thin and Medium Thin weights), which are meant to replicate the sound of an old K. Zildjian cymbal Stewart has had for a long time. They were introduced in 2004. According to Stewart, "The K Custom Special Dry Complex Ride has some trashy quality, but can also be articulate. The nice crash sound gets out of the way quickly while a clean stick sound or click is evident when riding. These cymbals are very pretty, yet can be very nasty."[4]

The cymbals were redesigned and sold as the K Custom Dry Complex II Rides since 2008 in sizes of 20, 22 and 24-inch. These custom ride cymbals feature a wider bell with a much lower profile to promote more control while offering a smooth array of rich overtones. Weight specifications are slightly heavier (medium-thin) than the first generation of Complex Rides, to make the cymbals more versatile, providing ride patterns that can be heard clearly from within an airy wash of overtones.[5]

Zildjian has also designed the Bill Stewart Artist Series Drumsticks.[6]

Discography

As leader
  • Think Before You Think (Jazz City, 1990)
  • Snide Remarks (Blue Note, 1995)
  • Telepathy (Blue Note, 1997)
  • Catability (Enja, 1998)
  • Drum Crazy (Funky Kitchen, 2005)
  • Keynote Speakers (2005)
  • Incandescence (Pirouet, 2008)
  • Live at Smalls (Smallslive, 2011)
  • Ramshackle Serenade (Pirouet, 2014)
  • Space Squid (Pirouet, 2015)
  • Band Menu (Stewed Music, 2018)

As sideman or co-leader

With Franck Amsallem

  • 1990 Out a Day
  • 1993 Regards
  • 1998 Another Time

With Peter Bernstein

  • 1998 Earth Tones
  • 2003 Heart's Content
  • 2004 Stranger in Paradise
  • 2016 Let Loose

With Seamus Blake

  • 1993 The Call
  • 2007 Way Out Willy
  • 2009 Bellwether
  • 2010 Live at Smalls

With Bill Carrothers

  • 1993 Ye Who Enter Here (with saxophonist Anton Denner, as A Band in All Hope)
  • 2002 Duets with Bill Stewart
  • 2003 Ghost Ships
  • 2008 Home Row
  • 2010 Joy Spring

With Scott Colley

  • Subliminal... (Criss Cross Jazz, 1998)
  • 2000 The Magic Line
  • 2002 Initial Wisdom

With Marc Copland

  • 1997 Softly
  • 2006 New York Trio Recordings Vol. 1: Modinha
  • 2009 New York Trio Recordings Vol. 3: Night Whispers

With Larry Goldings

  • 1991 The Intimacy of the Blues
  • 1992 Light Blue
  • 1994 Caminhos Cruzados
  • 1995 Whatever It Takes
  • 1996 Big Stuff
  • 2002 Sweet Science
  • 2001 As One

With Jon Gordon

  • 1992 The Jon Gordon Quartet
  • 1998 Currents
  • 2000 Possibilities

With Lage Lund

  • 2010 Unlikely Stories
  • 2013 Foolhardy
  • 2015 Idlewild

With Pat Martino

  • 1996 Night Wings
  • 1999 Mission Accomplished

With Pat Metheny

  • 2000 Trio 99>00
  • 2000 Trio Live

With Maceo Parker

With Chris Potter

With Jim Rotondi

  • 2004 New Vistas
  • 2006 Iron Man
  • 2010 1000 Rainbows

With John Scofield

With Jesse van Ruller

With others

References
  1. "Bill Carrothers-Drew Gress-Bill Stewart - Live at Monterey Jazz Festival 2011" – via www.youtube.com.
  2. Orr, Timothy (2008) "In Conversation With Bill Stewart" Drum Magazine
  3. Brannon, Mike (May 2002). "Bill Stewart Interview". All About Jazz. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  4. "Bill Stewart", Zildjian.
  5. "Zildjian K Custom Dry Complex II Ride Cymbal", Music123.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 8, 2015. Retrieved 2013-06-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Maceo Parker, Roots Revisited-The Bremen Concert, Minor Music Records, retrieved January 14, 2021
  8. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1441. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
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