Earl Louis Stewart

Last updated
Earl Louis Stewart, DMA
Dr. Stewart.jpg
Born (1950-08-11) August 11, 1950 (age 73)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Alma materThe University of Texas at Austin
Occupations
  • American Composer
  • musicologist
  • author
  • professor emeritus
Awards Global Music Awards (2018, 2022)
Website Official Site

Dr. Earl Louis Stewart (born August 11, 1950) is an author, essayist, poet, Professor Emeritus of The College of Creative Studies and the Black Studies department at the University of California Santa Barbara., [1] and an American composer of intellectual jazz as represented by the American Composer's Alliance. [2] In the past fifty years, Stewart has written several hundred compositions for chamber ensembles, chamber orchestras, symphony orchestras, quartets, soloists, and choir.

Contents

Biography

Stewart's career began at age fourteen when writing head arrangements with pick-up bands headlined by visiting black-soul artists from across the United States, and performing as a trumpeter with notables like Percy Sledge, Syl Johnson, King Floyd, Garland Green amongst others traveling on the Chitlin' Circuit. [3]

Following the development of his experience as a jazz musician, Stewart attended Southern University Baton Rouge's Jazz Institute, studying jazz composition under Alvin Batiste, an American jazz clarinetist, as preparation for him to earn his doctorate at the University of Texas in Austin. Stewart studied Western-European-classical-music composition with composer Karl Korte, orchestrator and author Kent Kennan, ethnomusicologist Gerard Béhague, and Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner. [4]

Stewart's compositions have been performed at venues worldwide, such as the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall [5] and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in New York; Heineken Jazz Festival in Tel Aviv, Israel; Saenger Theatre in Mobile, Alabama; the Sixth Annual Biennial International and Symposium Festival on New Intercultural Music at the University of London. [6] Notables who have performed select pieces of Stewart's compositions include saxophonist Cannonball Adderly, Alvin Batiste, [4] actor Moses Gunn, choreographer Chuck Davis, and mezzo-soprano Barbara Conrad. [7] [8]

Stewart has authored three books on music, including African American Music: An Introduction, a comprehensive study of African American music spanning from the Civil War to the present. He has also written numerous articles examining African-American music's aesthetic and theoretical significance. Stewart's publications include "African-American Music" in the Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism "Towards an Aesthetic of Black Musical Expression" in the Journal of Aesthetic Education, "Pan-African Classicism and Scott Joplin" in the Texas Journal, "Otis Redding" in Popular Musicians, and "Coleridge-Taylor: Concatenationalism and Essentialism in an Anglo-African Composer" in the American Philosophical Association Newsletter of Philosophy and the Black Experience. [5]

In December 2003, Stewart contracted Guillain–Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease, of which the symptoms caused him to end his career as a conductor. [9]

Select compositions

Chamber Ensemble

Chamber Orchestra

Symphony Orchestra

Jazz Symphony

Piano Works

Piano Rags

Oratorio / Cantata

Selected Performances

Steal Away (1991) [17]

Al-Inkishafi: AnOratorio (1984) [3]

Deep River (December 1987) [3]

Concerto: An Appropriate Title (1975) [3]

Symphony No. 4: Juneteenth (2024). [6]

Amina (1990) [17]

American Independence Suite (1992) [17]

Nakupenda (1999) [3]

Tenderly (2002) [3]

Bibliography

Books

Articles

Discography

CD

From the Heart: The Music of Earl Louis Stewart (2007)

DVD

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. "Earl Stewart | Department of Black Studies - UC Santa Barbara". www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  2. "Earl Louis Stewart". American Composers Alliance. 1993-01-01. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Horne, Aaron (1996). Brass Music of Black Composers: a bibliography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 248. ISBN   9780313298264.
  4. 1 2 "Eurocentric Methods To Describe Black Music Fall Short". Oakland Post. 10 December 1997. p. 9. ProQuest   367185955.
  5. 1 2 Jackson, Ashawnta (25 July 2022). "The Scholars Charting Black Music's Timeline: Earl Stewart and Michael Veal". JSTOR Daily.
  6. 1 2 "Earl Louis Stewart's 'Homage to Swing' recognized by American Prize Competition". The Current. 2024-02-15. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  7. "Stewart/Conrad/Gunn". Austin American-Statesman. 1984-04-15. p. 255. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  8. Goldstone, Dwonna (2006). Integrate: The 40 Acres The 50-year Struggle for Racial Equality at the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press. p. 65. ISBN   9780820342030.
  9. Montgomery, Lynn (director) (June 19, 2020). Amazing Grace [Grace Fisher] (Documentary). Santa Barbara, CA: Kriegler, Richard (executive producer).
  10. "Nakupenda (Identity 19:2)". YouTube .
  11. "Katrina Lament (Identity 113)". YouTube .
  12. "Elegy for Mr. Alvin Batiste (Identity 121)". YouTube .
  13. "Undulations (Identity 16:1)". YouTube .
  14. "Asante Sana Sana (Identity 18.2)". YouTube .
  15. "2017.02.05 World of Strings". 5 April 2017.
  16. "Earl Louis Stewart - Song for Annell". YouTube .
  17. 1 2 3 Horne, Aaron (1991). String Music of Black Composers (1st ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press (published October 6, 1991). p. 168. ISBN   978-0313279386.
  18. "BIBLIO | African-American Music an Introduction by Earl L. Stewart | Paperback | August 1, 1998 | Schirmer | 9780028602943".
  19. "Book Price Comparison - Save when Shopping for Multiple Used Books from Multiple Vendors".
  20. "BIBLIO | Vernacular Harmony by Earl L. Stewart | Paperback | 2010-12 | University Readers | 9781609277833".
  21. "BIBLIO | Eclectic Fables: Seven Tales from the Black Experience by Earl Louis Stewart | Paperback | 2002-09-10 | 1st Book Library | 9781403319401".