Rex Stewart

Musical artist

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

1 Career
2 Film and TV
3 Discography
4 References

Career

As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart dropped out of high school to become a member of the Ragtime Clowns led by Ollie Blackwell. 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. In 1933 he led a big band at the Empire Ballroom in New York City. Beginning in 1934, he spent eleven years with the Duke Ellington band. 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." 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 for the Los Angeles Times and the magazines Playboy and DownBeat. The book Jazz Masters of the Thirties 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 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. He died of a brain hemorrhage in Los Angeles.

Film and TV

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

Discography

Big Jazz with Jack Teagarden (Atlantic, 1953)
Rex Stewart Plays Duke Ellington with Illinois Jacquet (Grand Award, 1955)
The Big Challenge with Cootie Williams (Jazztone, 1957)
Porgy & Bess Revisited with Cootie Williams (Warner Bros., 1959)
Chatter Jazz with Dickie Wells (RCA Victor, 1959)
Henderson Homecoming (United Artists, 1959)
Rendezvous with Rex (Felsted, 1959)
The Happy Jazz of Rex Stewart (Swingville, 1960)
Rex Stewart and the Ellingtonians (Riverside, 1960)
The Rex Stewart Memorial Album (Prestige, 1969)
The Irrepressible Rex Stewart with John Dengler (Jazzology, 1980)
Rex Stewart with the Alex Welsh Band (Jazzology, 2004)

References

Orchestra
members

Hayes Alvis
Cat Anderson
Ivie Anderson
Harold Ashby
Alice Babs
Shorty Baker
Butch Ballard
Art Baron
Aaron Bell
Louie Bellson
Joe Benjamin
Barney Bigard
Lou Blackburn
Jimmy Blanton
Wellman Braud
Lawrence Brown
Harry Carney
Johnny Coles
Willie Cook
Buster Cooper
Kay Davis
Wild Bill Davis
Wilbur de Paris
Bobby Durham
Mercer Ellington
Rolf Ericson
Jimmy Forrest
Victor Gaskin
Peter Giger
Tyree Glenn
Paul Gonsalves
Sonny Greer
Fred Guy
Jimmy Hamilton
Otto Hardwick
Shelton Hemphill
Rick Henderson
Al Hibbler
Johnny Hodges
Major Holley
Charlie Irvis
Quentin Jackson
Hilton Jefferson
Herb Jeffries
Freddie Jenkins
Money Johnson
Herbie Jones
Wallace Jones
Taft Jordan
Al Killian
Queen Esther Marrow
Wendell Marshall
Murray McEachern
Louis Metcalf
James "Bubber" Miley
Harold "Geezil" Minerve
Ray Nance
Tricky Sam Nanton
Oscar Pettiford
Eddie Preston
Russell Procope
Junior Raglin
Betty Roché
Ernie Royal
Al Sears
Joya Sherrill
Willie Smith
Elmer Snowden
Rex Stewart
Billy Strayhorn
Billy Taylor
Clark Terry
Juan Tizol
Norris Turney
Ben Webster
Arthur Whetsel
Cootie Williams
Nelson Williams
Skippy Williams
Booty Wood
Jimmy Woode
Britt Woodman
Sam Woodyard

Mercer Ellington (son)
Duke Ellington Bridge
Duke Ellington Circle
- Duke Ellington Memorial
Duke Ellington House
Duke Ellington School of the Arts
Luther Henderson
Irving Mills
Sophisticated Ladies
Play On!
Sacred Concerts
Jam Session

Rex Stewart Is A Member Of

62 Year Olds

Rex