Rex Stewart

Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra.

Rex Stewart
Rex Stewart with Duke Ellington's orchestra (1943)
Background information
Birth nameRex William Stewart Jr.
Born(1907-02-22)February 22, 1907
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedSeptember 7, 1967(1967-09-07) (aged 60)
Los Angels, California
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsCornet
Years active1920s–1966
Associated actsDuke Ellington

Career

As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet.[1] Stewart dropped out of high school to become a member of the Ragtime Clowns led by Ollie Blackwell.[2] He was with the Musical Spillers led by Willie Lewis in the early 1920s, then with Elmer Snowden, Horace Henderson, Fletcher Henderson, Fess Williams, and McKinney's Cotton Pickers.[1][2] In 1933 he led a big band at the Empire Ballroom in New York City.[2] Beginning in 1934, he spent eleven years with the Duke Ellington band.[1][2] Stewart co-wrote "Boy Meets Horn" and "Morning Glory" and supervised recording sessions by members of the Ellington band. He left Ellington to lead "little swing bands that were a perfect setting for his solo playing."[3] He toured in Europe and Australia with Jazz at the Philharmonic from 1947 to 1951.

Beginning in the early 1950s, he worked in radio and television and wrote jazz criticism in The Los Angeles Times[2] and the magazines Playboy and Down Beat. The book Jazz Masters of the Thirties[1][2] is a selection of his criticism. He lived in upstate New York after purchasing a one hundred year old farmhouse. He hosted a jazz radio program in Troy, New York, and owned a small restaurant for a short time near a drag racing track in Vermont. While living in France, he attended the Le Cordon Bleu school of cooking[2] and dedicated his life to becoming a fine cook. Stewart moved to Los Angeles, California, to be near his children. His son Paul Albert Hardy lived in New York City. While in Los Angeles he reunited with musicians from the Ellington band and played jam sessions in clubs. He was a studio musician for The Steve Allen Show and with George Cole he hosted two radio shows: Dixieland Doings and Things Aint What They Used to Be.

His autobiography, Boy Meets Horn, was published in 1991.[2] He died of a brain hemorrhage in Los Angeles.[2]

Film

He made a cameo appearance in the 1949 film Rendezvous in July directed by Jacques Becker.[4] He also appeared in Hellzapoppin' (1941) and The Sound of Jazz (1957).[1]

Discography

References
  1. Yanow, Scott (2000). Swing. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. p. 149–151. ISBN 978-0-87930-600-7.
  2. Feather, Leonard; Gitler, Ira (2007). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press. p. 623–624. ISBN 0-19-507418-1.
  3. Shipton, Alyn (February 29, 2008). "BBC - (none) - Jazz Library - Rex Stewart". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  4. Kenny, Glenn (July 31, 2018). "Review: In 'Rendezvous in July,' Young Parisians Are on the Move". The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
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