PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Manouche Maestro |
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Louis Stewart 1944+
He turned down a scholarship from the Berklee School of Music, Boston, because at the time he was with Tubby Hayes' Quartet and Big Band and had been engaged by Benny Goodman for three European tours. As a member of Ronnie Scott's quartet and quintet for several years, Louis began recording as leader in the mid-'70s, making albums with Sam Jones and Billy Higgins, with Peter Ind, and later, with Red Mitchell, saxophonist Spike Robinson, pianist Bill Charlap, and now, more recently again, a new CD, recorded in Venice with altoist Peter King ("Angel Eyes").
Louis Stewart and James Moody In the 70s Louis began his lengthy association with George Shearing (with whom he has toured America, Brazil and all of Europe; and recorded eight albums - several in trio with Danish bass master Niels-Henning Orsted-Pedersen, and in quintet with vibist Steve Nelson and drummer Dennis Mackrel). He began working with Canadian genius-orchestrator and arranger, Robert Farnon in 1976, and at least ten albums resulted: with singers Joe Williams and Eileen Farrell, with Shearing and with trombone legend J.J. Johnson, on all of which he is a prominently featured soloist. His excellent guitar playing with Scott’s quartet, on his solo and duo albums in the 1970 and 1980s, and on recordings with George Shearing, Clark Terry, Martin Taylor, Heiner Franz and others in recent years has earned him a well-deserved reputation as one of the world’s foremost jazz guitarists.
In July 1998 Louis Stewart was conferred with a doctorate in music from Trinity College Dublin. Continuing to make Dublin his home, Louis performs regularly in Germany and Norway, where, in the national theatre, Oslo, his James Joyce/Ulysses inspired concert piece "Joyce Notes" has been produced to acclaim. Joycenotes (1993) VRCD 004 Louis Stewart (guitar), Knut Risnæs (tenorsax and flute), Nils Jansen (altsax og flute), Roy Nicolaysen (trumpet og flugelhorn), Henryk Lysiak (piano), Kåre Garnes (bass), Ole-Jacob Hansen (drums), Jens-Ivar Dagestad (percussion), Knut Mikalsen (guitar) This is a live recording from September 5, 1992. It was recorded in Sandvika theatre, Sandvika being a small town just outside of Oslo. The music was composed by Louis Stewart in connection with the celebration of the centennial for James Joyce’s birth in 1982. It is called ‘Joycenotes’ and consist of six music sequences, blended with the reading of passages from James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’. The passages are read by Norwegian actor Lars Andreas Larssen. Louis has worked all over the world with many wonderful musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Gomez, Pepper Adams, Bobby Rosengard, Roger Kellaway, Buddy Tate, and the list goes on... In 1982 he wrote a jazz suite for an 8-piece band and narrator, inspired by James Joyce's Ulysses. The work was first performed at the Cork International Jazz Festival and is entitled Joycenotes. There are so many Irish musicians who readily cite him as a huge influence and inspiration and indeed many of them have had the pleasure of working with him, Performing with Louis is inspiring; his encouragement is tremendous. As an Irish Ambassador for Jazz, Louis has made a huge contribution. |
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In
1994, as a member of the Shearing trio, Louis featured for a week opposite
Tommy
Flanagan's trio in The Blue Note, New York. This led to an association - still
active - with Peter Washington and Lewis Nash which has included a week-long
engagement, as leader, at the legendary Village Vanguard, NYC (with the
masterful Richard Wyands in the piano chair, and, for that particular week,
Kenny Washington, drums, substituting for Lewis Nash).
