Earl Louis Stewart

Earl Louis Stewart (born August 11, 1950) is an author, essayist, poet, professor emeritus of The College of Creative Studies and the Black Studies department at the University of California Santa Barbara and an American composer of intellectual jazz as represented by the American Composer's Alliance. In the past fifty years, Stewart has written several hundred compositions for chamber ensembles, chamber orchestras, symphony orchestras, quartets, soloists, and choir.

Biography Stewart's career began at age fourteen when writing head arrangements with pick-up bands headlined by visiting black-soul artists from across the United States, and performing as a trumpeter with notables like Percy Sledge, Syl Johnson, King Floyd, Garland Green amongst others traveling on the Chitlin' Circuit.

Following the development of his experience as a jazz musician, Stewart attended Southern University Baton Rouge's Jazz Institute, studying jazz composition under Alvin Batiste, an American jazz clarinetist, as preparation for him to earn his doctorate at the University of Texas in Austin. Stewart studied Western-European-classical-music composition with composer Karl Korte, orchestrator and author Kent Kennan, ethnomusicologist Gerard Béhague, and Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner.

Stewart's compositions have been performed at venues worldwide, such as the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in New York; Heineken Jazz Festival in Tel Aviv, Israel; Saenger Theatre in Mobile, Alabama; the Sixth Annual Biennial International and Symposium Festival on New Intercultural Music at the University of London. Notables who have performed select pieces of Stewart's compositions include saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Alvin Batiste,

Stewart has authored three books on music, including African American Music: An Introduction, a comprehensive study of African American music spanning from the Civil War to the present. He has also written numerous articles examining African-American music's aesthetic and theoretical significance. Stewart's publications include "African-American Music" in the Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism "Towards an Aesthetic of Black Musical Expression" in the Journal of Aesthetic Education, "Pan-African Classicism and Scott Joplin" in the Texas Journal, "Otis Redding" in Popular Musicians, and "Coleridge-Taylor: Concatenationalism and Essentialism in an Anglo-African Composer" in the American Philosophical Association Newsletter of Philosophy and the Black Experience.

Select compositions

Chamber ensemble

Rhythm Sonata No. 1-13 (2006–2021) for flute, drum set, harp, and strings Baching the Blues (2007) for flute and harp Bop'n the Rag Blues (2022) for flute and piano Blues Invention (2007) for flute and harp Inventions Sacred and Profane (2007) for vibraphone and violoncello Rag and Fugue (2003) for violin, violoncello, and double bass Three Rags for Flute and Piano (2018) for flute and piano

Chamber orchestra

The Portal (2016) Elton's Nocturne (2000) Corsica (2007) Corsica (2007) Nakupenda - Identity 19.2 (1989) on YouTube Undulations (1986) Vicissitudes of Life (2007) Amazing Grace (1997) Katrina Lament - Identity 113 (2006) on YouTube Elegy for Mr. Alvin Batiste (2007) on YouTube Canonic Swings Vol 1-7 (2020–2023) Budding Rose Rag (2020) Dark Beauty (2007) Journey to the Seat of the Master (1999) The Beautiful Pearl Ragtime (2009) Friends Forever (2009) The Dawning of Spring (1990) Three Rag Offerings (2008) Trip of Love Fantasy (1988) Jazz Fugue for Flute and Strings (1989) Undulations (1986) on YouTube Asante Sana Sana on YouTube

Symphony orchestra

Glimpses (1981) Diminished Fantasy (2011) Trip of Love (1988) Swing for Violin & Orchestra (2009) Double Fugue on a Theme by Duke Ellington (2021) Vernacular Variations (1998) Blues Prelude and Fugue (2020)

Jazz symphony

Symphony No. 1 F minor No. 2 E minor No. 3 D minor No. 4: Juneteenth No. 5 Homage to Swing on Vimeo No. 6 Ragtimes Vol I&II No. 8 Echoes from a Simpler Time No. 9 Five Musicals Prayers No. 15 New Beginning Jazz Passacaglia (2021)

Piano works

Afro-Inventions for Piano: Volume I, II (1993) Song for Annell - A Blues Fantasy (1982) for piano on YouTube Tangulizi Kabala Ya Nisha Kuu: Preludes before dissertations (1981) Afro Fugues in 3 Parts (2012) Classic Rags Book 1 (2003)

Piano rags

4 Canonic Rags Beauty in Darkness Rag

Oratorio / cantata

Al-Inkishafi (1984) Chrismons-Jazz Cantata

Selected performances Steal Away (1991)

For soprano soloist, chorus, and orchestra Premiered by the Boston Orchestra and Chorale

Al-Inkishafi: An Oratorio (1984) The Art of Soul Music: 1960-1980. A Musicological Perspective (Preliminary Edition) Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, IA, 2012. Vernacular Harmony: San Diego, CA: University Readers, an imprint of Cognella, 2010 Eclectic Fables: Seven Tales from the Black Experience, Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse (formerly known as 1st Books Library, San Bernardino, CA), 2002

Articles

"Pan-African Classicism and Scott Joplin," Texas Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp 12–15, Fall/Winter 1991. Print.* "The Black Rhythmic Conception," Uhuru, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp 68 –69, Ghana, West Africa 1992. Print. "A Case For The NSO," Uhuru, Vol. 5, No. 6, pp 43–45, Ghana, West Africa 1993. Print. "African-American Music," Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism, pp 1199–1203, Salem Press, Pasadena, California 1993. Print. "Celebrating Black History Month," Progressions (newsletter), pp 1–2, Berklee College of Music, Winter 1993. Print. "From the Lone Star to the Black Star," Berklee Today: A Forum for Contemporary Music and Musicians, pp 8, Berklee College of Music, Spring 1993. Print. Duran, Jane and Earl Stewart, "Toward an Aesthetic of Black Musical Expression," Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 31, No. 1, University of Illinois, Spring 1997. Duran, Jane and Earl Stewart. "Form and Nigrecence in African and Afro-North American Arts," Art & Academe, Vol. 9, No. 1, Visual Arts Press, Summer 1997. Print. "Otis Redding," Popular Musicians, pp 890–892, Salem Press, Inc., April 1999. Print. Stewart, Earl and Jane Duran. "Black Essentialism: The Art of Jazz Rap," Philosophy of Music Education Review," Volume 7, No. 1, Spring 1999. Print. www.iupress.indiana.edu/journals/pmer/pmetoc7.html Stewart, Earl and Jane Duran. "Coleridge-Taylor: Concatenationism and Essentialism in an Anglo-African Composer," American Philosophical Association Newsletter, Vol. 99, No. 1, Fall 1999. www.apa.udel.edu/apa/publications/newsletters/v99n1/blackexperience/article-stewart.asp Duran, Jane and Earl Stewart. "Scott Joplin and the Quest for Identity," Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 94–99, Summer 2007. Print.

Discography

Studio Albums From the Heart: The Music of Earl Louis Stewart (2007)

Eclectic String Studio Orchestra, Molly Buzick, conductor Inkishafi Records and Publishing: CD Baby / Inkishafi 4004 Homage by Marcus Eley: Majestic (2024) Marcus Eley, Clarinet, Earl Lous Stewart, composer Navona Records and Publishing Rhythm of the Spirit: Vol I (2025) Earl Lous Stewart, composer Navona Records and Publishing

DVD

Eclectic Musings: 3rd Annual Nakupenda Valentine's Concert (2006) Piano Compositions, Poetry, and Short Stories, Earl Stewart, music director Regents of the University of California UCTV 4315 Bach in the Hood: 4th Annual Nakupenda Concert (2008) Eclectic String Studio Orchestra, Earl Stewart, composer UC Santa Barbara Department of Music, Center for Black Studies, College of Creative Studies Regents of the University of California UCTV 15115