At JazzWax ....

At JazzWax, a swinging new sax-section album featuring Harry Allen, Grant Stewart, Eric Alexander and Gary Smulyan https://t.co/X0DmOs3tLt pic.twitter.com/U1dOC6gXiO

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) October 10, 2016

Grant Stewart: Our Man in Uruguay

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Last week, Grant Stewart sent along a lengthy email from Uruguay, where he was performing at the Punta Del Este International Jazz Festival. I've known Grant for five years—my first liner notes were written for his album Young at Heart(Sharp Nine). When I saw him recently and he told me he was heading down to Uruguay, I asked him to send along an email that I could share with you:

Hi Marc,

I just finished playing the 17th annual Punta Del Este International Jazz Festival tonight [January 9]. This issuch a beautiful place with incredibly kind people. Really something else.

This year I played a set with Jesse Davis on alto. It was great to be with him again. It has been a while, and he's sounding better than ever. We were joined by the great David Hazeltine on piano, Nat Reeves on bass and Jason Brown on drums. 

I also played a tribute to Charlie Parker led by Paquito D'Rivera on alto, me on tenor and Jesse Davis on alto, with Terell Stafford on trumpet, Gary Smulyan on baritone, David Hazeltine on piano, Nat Reeves on bass and Jason Brown on drums. Everyone played their asses off!  

There was a trumpet tribute to Clifford Brown with three terrific players: Diego Urcola, Joe Magnarelli [pictured above] and Terell Stafford. They were accompanied by the Mike LeDonne Trio, featuring John Webber on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums. It was really cooking.  

Magnarelli and Smulyan also did a super tribute to Pepper Adams and Gerry Mulligan, with the Mike LeDonne Trio. Paquito did a set with his quintet with trumpeter Diego Urcola, pianist Alex Brown, bassist Zach Brown and drummer Eric Doob—which was beautiful. "Jazz Meets Classical" was the concept.

Pianist Alex Brown (from New York ) and David Feldman (from Brazil) played tonight with their trios, and both sounded great. Good times after the concerts, with a dinner followed by a jam session.

The festival is put on by Francisco Yobino [pictured above, right], and Paquito D'Rivera is the musical director. It's held each year at Francisco's farm, and over the past 17 years he's had pretty much all the greats out there to play. It's truly amazing that he puts it on each year purely out of his love for jazz. It renews your faith to see people like this!

Francisco's farm is about 15 minutes inland from the stunning coast of Punta Del Este. It's set among rolling hills, forests, horses and free-range jazz saxophonists. It's hot here during the day—in the high 80's or low 90's. In the evening the temperature drops down to the 60's.

It's amazing the number of jazz fans here. I've been playing the festival for the last four years and have gotten to know quite a few of them. Fortunately I learned to speak Spanish years ago and still have it on the old mental hard drive. [Pictured above: Punta Del Este, Uruguay]

The fans in Uruguay are super enthusiastic about the music. There also were a lot of fans and musicians who came over from nearby Argentina, including the great drummer Pipi Piazzolla (grandson of Astor Piazzolla) and many other leading players. It's only a short flight or ferry ride to Buenos Aires from here.

Food-wise, this is one of my favorite places in the world. Argentina is praised for its beef, but Uruguay has fantastic meat as well. Dulce de leche is another sinfully good export. It's funny, when you eat it here in the fresh air, with nature all around you, it actually feels healthy to eat caramel. Mind over matter.

This year I didn't venture into the city of Punta Del Este, but it's considered the Riviera of South America by the jet-set crowd. When you drive by the smallish airport here, you see more private jets than a Criminal Mindsmarathon. Maybe too obscure a reference, but put simply, there are a lot of business jets.

The festival lasted only five days, but they were very intense days, musically, and the people at the festival here are like family. It's always sad to leave, but hopefully I'll be back soon.

If anyone's looking for a winter vacation next year  this is the place. Beautiful beaches, beautiful people and some really swinging music. Darn good food, too. 

I've got a week back in New York and then I'm off to play with the great trumpet player John Marshall in Switzerland and Austria. It should be a blast, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Gotta say, I'm really grateful that I get to do this for a living. The word "work" came up among the musicians at one point the other day, and immediately a Mark Twain quote came to mind: "What work I have done I have done because it has been play. If it had been work, I shouldn't have done it."

Well, it's 3 a.m.—time for bed. Take care and I hope to see you soon.

Grant

Jazzwax note: Here's the site of the Punta Del EsteInternational Jazz Festival. If you want to go next year, start taking a look in the fall.

JazzWax clip: Here's Grant Stewart playing Somewhere in the Night from his new release, Live at Smalls, with Tardo Hammer on piano, David Wong on bass and brother Phil Stewart on drums.

Dig Grant tagging Crepuscule With Nellie and The Things We Did Last Summer at 2:08—in the same line!

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Somewhere in the Night

Grant is one of the most innovative young musicians still carrying on the tradition of jazz

"Grant is one of the most innovative young musicians still carrying on the tradition of jazz, which encompasses bebop, swing and a little avant garde." - Lou Donaldson

"Grant is one of the brightest, gifted young players I've heard and had on my bandstand. He can only do good-he's got a long, brilliant career ahead of him." - George Coleman

Born in Toronto, Canada on June 4, 1971, Grant Stewart was exposed to the music of Charlie Parker, Wardell Gray and Coleman Hawkins by his father, a high school English teacher and semiprofessional guitarist. Father and son often played together for hours on end.  It was through these early experiences and his father's encouragement that Stewart first developed a strong ear for melody, style, and improvisation.  He began with the alto saxophone at age 10, and when he was 14 his first teacher, noted Toronto bandleader Pete Schofield, invited him to play professionally in Schofield's Big Band.  At 17 he switched to the tenor saxophone and was soon playing with such master saxophonists as Pat Labarbara and Bob Mover.  Stewart considers Mover to be one of his greatest teachers and among his strongest influences along with Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Don Byas, and Lester Young.

Since moving to New York City at the age of 19, Stewart has studied with such masters as Donald Byrd, Barry Harris, and Joe Lovano, and performed with Curtis Fuller, John Hendricks, Clark Terry, Etta Jones, Bill Charlap, Frank Gant, Dan Barret, Bob Mover, Brad Mehldau, Russell Malone, Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Jimmy Cobb, Harry Connick, Mickey Roker, Arthur Harper, Jimmy Lovelace, Cecil Payne, Dick Hyman, Herb Geller and was a member of the last Al Grey Sextet.  Stewart can be found playing at such clubs in NY as Birdland, Smoke, The Ketano, The Jazz Standard, Fat Cat and can be heard every Tuesday night at Smalls Jazz Club. Stewart has performed all over North America and Europe as well as in Japan, Brazil and Taiwan. He was also one of the first jazz artists to be invited to play at the historical Hermitage Museum in St. Petersberg, Russia. In addition Grant was a featured artist at the Guggenheim Museums’ Jazz series with his trio including  drum legend  Jimmy Cobb.

Stewart has eight recordings as a leader on various labels, two as a co-leader with fellow tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander on the Criss Cross label  and many others as a sideman. His latest releases are The Shadow of Your Smile on Birds Records (Japan)  and  In the Still of the Night  on Sharp Nine Records (USA) which has received  worldwide critical acclaim. Keep an eye out for Stewart’s upcoming release of Young at Heart in March of 2008  on Sharp Nine Records.
http://www.grantstewartjazz.com/home.htm

Grant Stewart live at Smalls playing You Go To My Head with Phil stewart,Joel Forbes and Ehud Asherie