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Bill Stewart | |
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 Denmark 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Harris Stewart |
| Born | October 18, 1966 Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instrument(s) | Drums |
| Labels | Blue Note |
William Harris Stewart (born October 18, 1966, in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American jazz drummer.
Bill Stewart's father was a trombonist, and his first and middle names are a tribute to jazz trombonist Bill Harris. [1]
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 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. Stewart 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, gaining wider recognition in John Scofield's quartet with pianist Michael Eckroth and bassist Ben Street [2] 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, performing infrequently. Stewart's musical horizons expanded when funk saxophonist Maceo Parker noticed Stewart 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 [2] and many other jazz musicians have followed.
Stewart, for the most part, plays holding his sticks in a matched grip.
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." [5]
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. [6]
Zildjian has also designed the Bill Stewart Artist Series Drumsticks. [7]
With Franck Amsallem
With Peter Bernstein
With Seamus Blake
With Bill Carrothers
With Scott Colley
With Marc Copland
With Larry Goldings
With Jon Gordon
With Lage Lund
With Pat Martino
With Pat Metheny
With Maceo Parker
With Chris Potter
With Jim Rotondi
With John Scofield
With Jesse van Ruller
With others
John Scofield is an American guitarist and composer whose music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention in the band of Miles Davis, and has toured and recorded with many prominent jazz artists, including saxophonists Eddie Harris, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson and Joe Lovano; keyboardists George Duke, Joey DeFrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Larry Goldings and Robert Glasper; fellow guitarists Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Pat Martino and Bill Frisell; bassists Marc Johnson and Jaco Pastorius; and drummers Billy Cobham and Dennis Chambers. Outside the world of jazz, he has collaborated with Phil Lesh, Mavis Staples, John Mayer, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Gov't Mule.
Gary George Peacock was an American jazz double bassist. He recorded a dozen albums under his own name, and also performed and recorded with major jazz figures such as avant garde saxophonist Albert Ayler, pianists Bill Evans, Paul Bley and Marilyn Crispell, and as a part of Keith Jarrett’s “Standards Trio” with drummer Jack DeJohnette. The trio existed for over thirty years, and recorded over twenty albums together. DeJohnette once stated that he admired Peacock's "sound, choice of notes, and, above all, the buoyancy of his playing." Marilyn Crispell called Peacock a "sensitive musician with a great harmonic sense."
Paul Mazurkiewicz Jr. is a Polish-American musician best known as the drummer of the death metal band Cannibal Corpse. Mazurkiewicz was originally the drummer for the band, Tirant Sin, alongside two other future Cannibal Corpse members Chris Barnes and Bob Rusay. The trio joined Alex Webster and Jack Owen in 1988, forming Cannibal Corpse. He is also currently the drummer for assorted side projects including Umbilicus and Heaven's Gate. Besides drumming, he also plays the guitar, and is the group's primary lyricist and contributes heavily to composing songs; he penned the songs "Dead Human Collection", "Frantic Disembowelment", "Monolith", "Carrion Sculpted Entity", and "Worm Infested". Mazurkiewicz, along with Webster, is one of the remaining members of the band since its inception.
Brooks Wackerman is an American musician. He is the current drummer of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which he joined in 2015. His first album with Avenged Sevenfold was The Stage (2016). He is most known as the former and longest-standing drummer of punk rock band Bad Religion. Wackerman has also performed, either as a member or a session or touring member, with Blink-182, Bad4Good, Infectious Grooves, Glenn Tipton, Mass Mental, Suicidal Tendencies, The Vandals, Avril Lavigne, Korn, Kidneys, Fear and the Nervous System, Tenacious D, Farmikos, Tom Delonge, and Big Talk. His brothers, Chad Wackerman, and John Wackerman, are also drummers.
Andrew Newmark is an American session drummer who was a member of Sly and the Family Stone and has played with George Harrison, John Lennon, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Ron Wood and Roxy Music.
Akira Jimbo, also transliterated as Akira Jinbo, is a Japanese jazz fusion drummer, best known as the drummer for the Japanese jazz fusion band Casiopea in 3 separate stints. Aside from his work with Casiopea, Jimbo has also participated in side projects with Keiko Matsui, Shambara, and Brian Bromberg.
Dennis Milton Chambers is an American jazz fusion and funk drummer. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2001.
Marc Copland is an American jazz pianist and composer.
Lawrence Sam "Larry" Goldings is an American jazz keyboardist and composer. His music has explored elements of funk, blues, and fusion. Goldings has a comedic alter ego known as Hans Groiner.
Kevin Hays is an American jazz pianist and composer. He began playing in New York while still at high school and led his first record date in 1990. He has recorded more than twenty albums as leader or co-leader, including three each for SteepleChase and Blue Note Records. He led a long-standing trio with bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Bill Stewart, and has also sung with his New Day Trio of bassist Rob Jost and drummer Greg Joseph.
Armen Hrant Donelian is a jazz pianist, composer, educator and author.
Kenny Werner is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author.
Leon Parker is a jazz percussionist and composer. He is known for occasionally using a minimalist drum set with fewer components than usual, "sometimes consisting only of a snare drum, bass drum and a cymbal."
Thomas Armon Pridgen is an American drummer, best known for his role as the drummer of The Mars Volta from October 2006 until October 2009. He is touring with rapper Residente and is the drummer for hardcore punk band Trash Talk, as well as his own project The Memorials. In 2023 he joined Fever 333.
Chris Sharrock is an English drummer, hailing from Bebington, Cheshire, England. He has been a member of the Icicle Works, the La's, the Wild Swans, World Party, the Lightning Seeds, Robbie Williams's live band, Oasis, Beady Eye and is currently in Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.
Peter Andrew Bernstein is an American jazz guitarist.
Dana Hall is an American jazz drummer, percussionist, composer, bandleader, and ethnomusicologist. After spending the first few years of his life in Brooklyn, New York, he relocated with his family to his mother's hometown of Philadelphia. There, Hall was exposed to jazz and soul music at an early age through the recordings of his mother Diane, his uncle Earl Harris, and his large extended family. His family's interest in creative music, and their “open door” policy toward Philadelphia jazz musicians of the era sparked Hall's curiosity, passion and ultimately career in music.
John Bernard Riley is an American jazz drummer and educator. He has performed with Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Scofield, Bob Mintzer, Gary Peacock, Mike Stern, Joe Lovano, Franck Amsallem, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, John Patitucci, and Bob Berg.
Seamus Blake is a British-born Canadian tenor saxophonist.
Pablo Held is a German jazz pianist and composer.
Stewart, openly gay, minimized the role of sexual orientation in his music and his experience with other musicians.
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