Jesse Stewart is an award-winning percussionist, composer, improviser, artist, instrument builder, educator, and writer. A dynamic and inventive performer, Stewart has a remarkable ability to coax unexpected—even magical—sounds out of virtually any resonating object or material. He has performed with many internationally acclaimed musicians including George Lewis, Roswell Rudd, Bill Dixon, William Parker, Evan Parker, Joe Mcphee, Michael Snow, and many others. He is currently a member of the David Mott Quintet and Tallboys, a trio featuring virtuoso musicians Kevin Breit on guitar and Matt Brubeck on cello. He also leads his own groups and performs regularly as a soloist at festivals across the country and has made numerous compact disc recordings …

After majoring in both visual art and in music as an undergraduate student at the University of Guelph, he went on to complete two Master of Arts degrees concurrently at York University in Toronto: one in ethnomusicology and another in music composition. His composition teachers included James Tenney and David Mott. In 2008, Stewart completed doctoral level studies at the University of Guelph where he was the first recipient of the Brock Doctoral Scholarship, the university’s most prestigious graduate award. He now teaches music composition at Carleton University in Ottawa.

His playing has been described as “truly exciting” (Musicworks 76), “exceptional” (Cadence Oct. 2002) and “phenomenal” (Cadence Nov. 1999). In a 2002 review, Texas-based music critic Frank Rubolino described him as “…one of the finest young drummers and percussionists on the scene today” (One Final Note Summer/Fall 2002).

<object width=”600″ height=”335″><param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” /><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” /><param name=”movie” value=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13031762&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1″ /><embed src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13031762&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” width=”600″ height=”335″></embed></object><p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/13031762″>TEDxCarletonU – Jesse Stewart – 30/03/2010</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

Links:

Jesse Stewart’s Website

Casia Interviews Jesse Stewart at the Ottawa Folk Festival

Jesse Stewart’s Music Channel on Youtube

Photo Credit: Ian Murchison