Tommy Stewart (trumpeter)
Encyclopedia
Tommy Stewart is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

er, arranger, producer, composer and pianist residing in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

. He is a member of several active performing groups, including the Magic City Jazz Orchestra
Magic City Jazz Orchestra
The Magic City Jazz Orchestra is an American jazz ensemble which was founded in 1999 as a spin-off of the SuperJazz Big Band by Birmingham, Alabama jazz pianist and vocalist Ray Reach...

, Cleveland Eaton
Cleveland Eaton
Cleveland "Cleve" Eaton is an American jazz double bassist from Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. His most famous accomplishments are substantial playing stints with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and later with the Count Basie Orchestra...

 and the Alabama All-Stars, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars
The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars is a working jazz ensemble, featuring some of the finest jazz musicians Alabama has to offer...

, and Ray Reach
Ray Reach
Raymond Everett Reach, Jr. is an American pianist, vocalist and educator residing in Birmingham, Alabama, now serving as Director of Student Jazz Programs for the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars and President and CEO of Ray Reach Music and Magic City...

 and Friends. He was a 1988 inductee into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame was founded in 1978, and opened a museum on September 18, 1993, with a mission "to foster, encourage, educate, and cultivate a general appreciation of the medium of jazz music as a legitimate, original and distinctive art form indigenous to America...

.

Early years

John T. "Fess" Whatley trained Stewart, Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Ramsay Hawkins was an American trumpet player and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is most remembered for composing the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" with saxophonist and arranger Bill Johnson...

, Dud Bascomb
Dud Bascomb
Wilbur Odell "Dud" Bascomb was an American jazz trumpeter best known for his tenure with Erskine Hawkins. He is a 1979 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame....

, Paul Bascomb
Paul Bascomb
Paul Bascomb was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, noted for his extended tenure with Erskine Hawkins. He is a 1979 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame....

, and Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...

 (previously known as Herman Blount). Whatley taught music at Industrial High in Birmingham, which at the time was one of the largest populated high schools in America, with more than 3,500 students walking its hallways. Alvin "Stumpy" Robinson, the band director at Washington Jr High School, was also influential in Stewart's development.

Tommy Stewart enrolled at Alabama State College
Alabama State University
Alabama State University, founded 1867, is a historically black university located in Montgomery, Alabama. ASU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- History :...

 without knowing how he was going to pay tuition. The problem solved itself when he joined the Bama State Collegians
Bama State Collegians
The Bama State Collegians is a student jazz orchestra made up of students at Alabama State University. This group, founded in the 1930s, has been directed by a number of notable musicians, including Tommy Stewart and Erskine Hawkins....

, a dance band formed in 1929 who at various times featured Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Ramsay Hawkins was an American trumpet player and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is most remembered for composing the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" with saxophonist and arranger Bill Johnson...

, Avery Parrish
Avery Parrish
Avery Parrish was an American jazz pianist and songwriter.Parrish studied at the Alabama State Teachers College, where he played in the Bama State Collegians, an ensemble led by Erskine Hawkins. He remained in Hawkins's employ until 1941 and recorded with him extensively...

, Joe Newman
Joe Newman (trumpeter)
Joseph Dwight Newman was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator, best known for his time with Count Basie....

, Sam Taylor
Sam Taylor (jazz)
Sam Taylor best known as the tenor saxophonist Sam "The Man" Taylor, was an American jazz and blues player, whose honking style set the standard for tenor sax solos in both rock and roll and rhythm and blues....

, Julian Dash
Julian Dash
Julian Dash was an American swing music jazz tenor saxophonist born in Charleston, South Carolina, probably better known for his work with Erskine Hawkins and Buck Clayton.-Discography:...

, Benny Powell
Benny Powell
Benny Powell was an African American jazz trombonist. He played both standard trombone and bass trombone....

, and Vernall Fournier. Other musicians who attended Alabama State are Clarence Carter
Clarence Carter
Clarence Carter is a blind American soul singer and musician.-Life and career:Born in Montgomery, Alabama on 14 January 1936, Carter attended the Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega, Alabama, and Alabama State College in Montgomery, graduating in August 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree...

, Fred Wesley
Fred Wesley
Fred Wesley is an American jazz and funk trombonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...

 (James Brown), and Walter Orange (Commodores
Commodores
The Commodores are an American funk/soul band of the 1970s and 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute in 1968, and signed with Motown in November 1972, having first caught the public eye opening for The Jackson 5 while on tour...

). The popular band made enough money to fund Stewart's way through four years of college.

Education

He attended Alabama State University
Alabama State University
Alabama State University, founded 1867, is a historically black university located in Montgomery, Alabama. ASU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- History :...

, where he directed the Bama State Collegians
Bama State Collegians
The Bama State Collegians is a student jazz orchestra made up of students at Alabama State University. This group, founded in the 1930s, has been directed by a number of notable musicians, including Tommy Stewart and Erskine Hawkins....

 (formerly directed by trumpeter Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Ramsay Hawkins was an American trumpet player and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is most remembered for composing the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" with saxophonist and arranger Bill Johnson...

). Later, he studied jazz arranging at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...

. Stewart also studied arranging under John Duncan, a classical composer and teacher at Alabama State University. Tommy pledged Omega Psi Phi
Omega Psi Phi
Omega Psi Phi is a fraternity and is the first African-American national fraternal organization to be founded at a historically black college. Omega Psi Phi was founded on November 17, 1911, at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. The founders were three Howard University juniors, Edgar Amos...

 at the Gamma Sigma Chapter located on the Alabama State University Campus.

Teaching years

He taught high school from 1961 to 1963 at Fayette High School in St. Clair County Alabama. In 1969 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

, and taught in Fayetteville, Ga; he also worked for Morris Brown College
Morris Brown College
Morris Brown College is a private, coed, liberal arts college located in the Vine City community of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is a historically black college affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church...

 doing band arrangements. He taught jazz and did band arrangements at Morehouse College
Morehouse College
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....

 from 1974 to 1985. He also taught band classes at West End High School
West End High School (Birmingham, Alabama)
West End High School was a public high school in the Birmingham City Schools system of Birmingham, Alabama. The school's massive red-brick building, completed in 1930 was a collaboration between noted local architects Warren, Knight and Davis and David O...

 in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

 from 1991-2001. He also taught “A Survey of Popular Music” at Georgia State University
Georgia State University
Georgia State University is a research university in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves about 30,000 students and is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities...

 in 1979.

From 2005 to 2007, Tommy served as a faculty member of the educational program at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame was founded in 1978, and opened a museum on September 18, 1993, with a mission "to foster, encourage, educate, and cultivate a general appreciation of the medium of jazz music as a legitimate, original and distinctive art form indigenous to America...

, under Director of Student Jazz Programs, Ray Reach
Ray Reach
Raymond Everett Reach, Jr. is an American pianist, vocalist and educator residing in Birmingham, Alabama, now serving as Director of Student Jazz Programs for the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars and President and CEO of Ray Reach Music and Magic City...

. In this position, he was also a member of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars
The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars is a working jazz ensemble, featuring some of the finest jazz musicians Alabama has to offer...

.

Produced, arranged, performed, or recorded with

In 1956 he played with Roy Hamilton. In 1963 Stewart also performed with Willie Hightower L.C. Cook and Junior Parker during summer vacations. He arranged music for Eula Cooper, The Mighty Hannibal
The Mighty Hannibal
The Mighty Hannibal is an American R&B, soul and funk singer, songwriter and record producer. Known for his showmanship, and outlandish costumes often incorporating a pink turban, several of his songs carried social or political themes...

, Sandy Gaye, and Langston-French Duo (Langston is an ex-Pip and Gladys Knight’s cousin). Most of these arranging assignments took place on Jessie Jones Tragar Records Label, located at 99-1/2 Hunter St. in Atlanta.

During the '70s, he worked at the Gold Lounge accompanying the likes of Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1953 to 1989. The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's "Soul" record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight...

 and The Tams
The Tams
The Tams, sometimes later billed as 'The Joe Pope Tams' are an American vocal group from Atlanta, Georgia, who enjoyed their greatest chart success in the 1960s, and the 1970s, and most improbably in the 1980s. Two separate versions of the group continue to perform and record. One version features...

. In 1971 he went on the road with Johnnie Taylor's show, which also featured Jackie Moore King Floyd Z.Z. Hill and The Stylistics
The Stylistics
The Stylistics are a soul music vocal group, and were one of the best-known Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. They formed in 1968, and were composed of lead Russell Thompkins, Jr., Herbie Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. All of their US hits were ballads, graced by the...

, who were hot with "You're a Big Girl Now
You're a Big Girl Now
"You're a Big Girl Now" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his 15th studio album Blood on the Tracks in 1975. The lyric "Love is so simple, to quote a phrase" refers to the title of The Dells song "Love is So Simple." The title also makes reference to the soul song, "You're A Big Girl Now" by The...

." He was the chief arranger for a television show in 1972 called Nightlife South, which ran for 25 weeks. The following year he did the charts for The Burning of Atlanta LP by The Spirit of Atlanta on Buddah Records
Buddah Records
Buddah Records was founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding...

. That same year (1973) he connected with GRC/Aware Records and arranged tracks recorded by John Edwards (who later joined The Spinners) and Loletta Holloway, one of soul's most dynamic voices.

Stewart toured as musical director with Johnnie Taylor
Johnnie Taylor
Johnnie Harrison Taylor was an American vocalist in a wide variety of genres, from rhythm and blues, soul, blues and gospel to pop, doo-wop and disco.-Early years:...

 on his Disco Lady Tour in 1976, and also served as Ted Taylor's musical director. In 1973 Tommie also directed Johnny Taylor’s band while they performed on The Midnight Special
The Midnight Special (TV series)
The Midnight Special is an American musical variety series that aired on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981...

Show featuring Wolfman Jack
Wolfman Jack
Robert Weston Smith, known commonly as Wolfman Jack was a gravelly voiced US disc jockey who became famous in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early career:...

. Chuck Berry was the official MC for that show.

In the late 70's Stewart teamed with Marlon McNichols, a producer from Detroit, MI, to record some classic Disco music with groups such as Final Approach, Cream De CoCo, Tamiko Jones, Moses Davis, and of course to collaborate on the Tommy Stewart album with the classic hit "Bump & Hustle Music". Tommy and Marlin McNichols would fly into Detroit and use the same horn and string players that played on all those great sounding Motown Records on their Atlanta Recordings, bringing together southern funk blended with soft and lush strings and horns.

Stewart also arranged for Luther Ingram in 1977 and Johnny Baylor (Ingram s manager and the owner of KoKo Records).

Stewart's name pops up several times in the production and songwriting credits on Martha High's solo album on Salsoul Records. He produced the album and co-wrote every song featured, except for a remake of the Emotions' "Don't Ask My Neighbor," with his two colleagues, Harold Daniels and Julian Chatman.

The Martha High album was done on spec. High toured with James Brown as a backing vocalist and originally sang with the Four Jewels (who later became the Jewels), but stayed with Brown after the other members left. Brown was going to do the album, but decided to let Stewart do it. Joe Cayre of Salsoul Records wanted a James Brown sound—Stewart obliged by knocking the LP out in one day. He met High the day of the session. The record doesn't have the typical stringy Salsoul sound because it was recorded in Atlanta, not Philadelphia. Cayre released the album, undoctored, from the tape Stewart submitted. It was around this time that he produced Ripple a self-contained band who made a little noise with "The Beat Goes On," and Southside Coalition, made up of some of Stewart's former students from Archer High in Atlanta.

He worked with Major Lance on two albums, toured with the Tams in 1983, and did arrangements for Serena Johnson's The Lack of Communication album. In 1990, he co-founded the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

philharmonic symphony orchestra in Atlanta under co-founder/conductor John Peek. He moved from Atlanta to Birmingham in 1992, where he lived with his wife, Francina (a substitute teacher), and daughter Franita.

Discography

LP’s:
  • The Spirit Of Atlanta - The Burning Of Atlanta (Buddah LP 1973)
  • Whole Darn Family - Has Arrived (Soul International LP 1976)
  • Tommy Stewart - Same (Abraxas LP 1976)
  • Ripple – Sons of the Gods (Salsoul LP 1977)
  • Luther Ingram – (KoKo LP1977)
  • Stevo - Musica Negra (Oliva Cantu LP 1978)
  • Opus 7 – Opus 7 (MCA LP 1978)
  • Tommy Stewart and His Orchestra (Circle Records LP 1980)
  • Sil Austin + Tommy Stewart and His Orchestra (Circle Records LP 1981)
  • Hambone - Big Fat Juicy Fun (Salsoul LP 1981)
  • Solar Source - Now's The Time (AVI LP 1981)
  • Major Lance – I Wanna Go Home (Columbia LP 1981)


12":
  • Tommy Stewart - Bump & Hustle Music (unreleased 11 minute version bootleg)
  • Stevo - Pay The Price/Party Night (G.K. Productions 12") - also released on a T.K. Disco 12" (1979) and a Shield 7"..
  • Gregory Jolly - My Business (G.K. Productions 12")
  • Sil Austin – Disco Music / Disco Lady (Jerri 7”)
  • Moses - Love to live / Something about you (Pure Silk 12" 1978)
  • Mad Dog Fire Department - Cosmic Funk (T.K. Disco 12" 1979)
  • Sherman Hunter - Dancing Down The Avenue (T.K. Disco 12" 1979)
  • Cream de Coco - Wiggle wiggle wiggle / Disco strut (Free Spirit 12" 1976)
  • Final Approach - We Like To Boogie / Que Passa (Goldplate 12" 1976)
  • Tamiko Jones - Let It Flow (T.K. Disco 12" 1976)
  • Martha High - He's My Ding Dong Man / Wallflower (Salsoul 12" 1979)


45:
  • Clinton Harmon - I Want To Get Close To You (Note Records 7" 1976)
  • Clinton Harmon - Can't Help The Way I Feel About You (Barnstorm Records 7")
  • Stevo - Easter Parade / Disco Bunny (G.K. Disco Series 7")
  • Lyn Westbrook – African Strut Part1 / African Strut Part2 (Esprit 7”)
  • Funny Bone - Ride On Bones / Bring It Home (Camp-Bell 7")
  • Eula Cooper – I Can’t Help If I Love You / Since I Fell For You (Tragar 7” 1969)
  • Sandy Gaye – Watch the Dog That Bring the Bone / Talk Is Cheap (Tragar 7” 1969)
  • Sandy Gaye – He's Good For Me / Talk Is Cheap (Moonshot 7” 1969)
  • Richard Cook – Love is So Mean / Somebody’s Got to Help Me (Tragar 7” 1969)
  • Langston and French – Let’s Get Funky / Tumbling Down (Tragar 7” 1969)
  • Nathan Wilkes – Now that I Am Wise / Strange Feeling (Tragar 7” 1969)
  • Richard Marks – Home For the Holidays / Mr. Santa Claus (Tuska 7” 1969)
  • Buddy Cantrell – Why Did You Leave Me? / You Ain’t No Good (Tuska 7” 1969)
  • Richard Marks – I’m the Man For You / Cracker Jack (Tuska 7” 1969)
  • Barbara Hall – Broken Hearted / Big Man (Tuska 7” 1969)
  • Richard Marks – Did You Ever Lose Something / Never Satisfied (Tuska 7” 1969)
  • Loleatta Holloway – Cry To Me (Aware 7” 1974)
  • Loleatta Holloway – H-E-L-P Me, My Lord (Aware 7” 1974)
  • Loleatta Holloway – I Know Where You’re Coming From / Show Must Go On (Aware 7” 1974)
  • Loleatta Holloway – Casanova (Aware 7” 1974)
  • Loleatta Holloway - Casanova / Only A Fool (Aware 7" 1975)
  • Calvin Arnold - Friendly Neighborhood Freak (IX Chains 7" 1975)
  • 3rd World Band - Disco Hop / Let's Boogie At The Disco (Abraxas 7" 1975)
  • Sil Austin - Disco lady / Disco music (Jerri 7" 1976)
  • South Side Coalition - Get Down Get Down / The Power-Play (Brown Dog 7" 1976)
  • Ojeda Penn - Brotherson (IFE 7" 1981)
  • Miss Louistine – Tired of Being Alone / I Don’t Want to Love Nobody But You (NWE 7” 1984)
  • Louistine – Self Serve Woman / Don't Take Me On (Plexus 7” 1984)
  • Harold Daniels – Don’t Snatch It Back / Instrumental (Southern Tracks / 1986)

External links

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